Not just a Bookworm
by LordGranger
Summary: OoTP. AU. What if Hermione answered more aggresively when Harry screamed at his two friends as he arrived. It turns to a shouting contest between two friends. Because of his anger, Harry hurts Hermione's feelings. Harry has to learn to take his anger out of people who really deserved and this leads to a really different 5th year. H/HR (And some other pairings).
1. Chapter 1: I can't Live Without You

A/N: So in canon, Hermione tried to soften her friend, while Harry screamed at them. What if Hermione reacted more aggressively. This story explores what would happen. H/HR, other pairings will come with time.

I disclaim everything besides the plot. Also, some parts in this chapter are from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which also belongs to J. K. Rowling.

**Chapter 1: I can't Live Without You**

Hermione Granger was not short tempered. She liked to think that she was pretty patient. Yes, she often got irritated but she rarely lost her temper.

Yet this time, controlling her temper was a challenge for the young witch. Here was her best friend who worried her sick about himself for the past 2 months, screaming his head off at them.

"**SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT- WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?" **

Hermione felt tears forming in her eyes. At first she felt sorry for her friend but that last one awakened a new emotion. She bit her lip to not say anything, knowing that Harry needed to let out steam.

**WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COMEBACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ****ME!**

Hermione felt her control slowly slipping away from her. None of this was our fault. She looked at Ron, but saw nothing but shock in his face.

BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"

Hermione knew she had to say something before everything went out of control.

**Harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did-" she began.**

"**CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR–" **

"_Yes that is pretty much the point you dumbass" _she thought but once again bit her lip to avoid an argument. _"He is angry for a reason, stay calm Granger"_ she told to herself. She wanted to apolagize to him but it was getting harder to control her temper.

"**Well, he did-" began Ron.**

"**FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON -" **

Then go complain to Albus Bloody Dumbledore, not us tho ught Hermione. Even in all her anger, she felt sorry for her best friend and mentally slapped herself for believing the ancient headmaster.

"**Look Harry, we wanted to-"** she started again but she was once again interrupted.

"**I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER -" **Harry screamed again. Hermione felt all her control leaving her.

"CAN YOU LISTEN TO WHAT WE ARE SAYING, DAMN IT" screamed Hermione. Harry looked at her with shock in his eyes, like he didn't even notice she was there.

"STOP TAKING ALL YOUR BLOODY ANGER OUT ON US" she screamed at him taking a step closer. She was openly crying now, but Harry was still too frustrated to notice.

"WELL, TELL ME HERMIONE, I AM LISTENING! WHY DID YOU ABANDON YOUR FRIEND"

"ABANDON?" Hermione laughed. It was a humorless, unstable laugh and behind her, Ron distanced himself from her. "YOU CAME HERE 2 MINUTES AGO HARRY POTTER. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I BEGGED DUMBLEDORE, SO HE WOULD ALLOW US TO WRITE TO YOU. AT THE END HE STARTED AVOIDING ME WHENEVER HE CAME HERE"

Harry didn't know this and felt a little bit ashamed. But he couldn't just leave 2 months of anger behind and pressed on.

"You obviously didn't try hard enough" he screamed back. "You two were together here. Happily living while I had to endure Dursleys"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING" screamed Hermione. Tears were falling freely from her eyes but she didn't care. "HAPPILY TOGETHER? THIS IS FUNNY. RON, WANT TO SAY YOUR MATE ANYTHING? LIKE HOW WORRIED WE WERE FOR HIM. OR SHOULD I TELL YOU HOW I COULDN'T EVEN SLEEP BECAUSE OF WORRY AND MRS. WEASLEY HAD TO GIVE ME SLEEP POTIONS EVERY FREAKING NIGHT"

Harry just looked at her. For a moment he was speechless at this revolution. He noticed her tired looking eyes, she really looked worse than Remus after a full moon.

"I did everything while I was always left in the dark" growled Harry and took a step closer to Hermione but she didn't budge. "Who saved all of you continuously in last four years. ME! BUT STILL, YOU ARE HERE WHILE I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING"

"Well, if it was really that big of a deal, that you should have LET ME DIE" screamed Hermione. "BECAUSE FRIENDS DON'T TALK ABOUT THESE THINGS, UNLESS HIS NAME IS MALFOY. FOR YOUR INFORMATION, WE EACH DID SAVE OTHERS LIVE MORE THAN ONCE, BUT I DON'T SEE RON SCREAMING HIS HEAD OFF"

"YOU DIDN'T SEE HIM" exploded Harry. This time, he was only talking to Hermione "I HAD TO FIGHT AGAINST VOLDEMORT WHILE YOU WERE SITTING AND WATCHING A STUPID MAZE. I HAD TO FIGHT AGAINST DEMENTORS WHILE YOU WERE UNCONCIOUS. I HAD TO FIGHT RIDDLE WHILE YOU LAY PETRIFIED IN THE INFIRMARY. I HAD TO OPPOSE QUIRRELL WHILE YOU SIMPLY LEFT. YOU USED ME LIKE A BODYGUARD AND ALWAYS LEFT ME WHEN I NEEDED HELP"

Harry breathed heavily. He saw hurt in Hermione's eyes. She blinked and stayed there for a few seconds.

"Is that really what you think Harry Potter?" she asked silently. She now stopped crying and her voice was cold "Do you really think I didn't do anything for you? Answer me"

Harry knew it was not true. He knew he wouldn't have survived two seconds without her help. He knew she was the one that was continuously on his side but he couldn't say it. Instead, other words left his mouth before he knew what he was doing.

"Yes" said Harry loudly. "You probably became friends with me because you were lonely and the boy who lived was clearly the best choice for a friend. Face it, if I wasn't there, you would have been killed by a stupid troll, no one else would have come to save you"

Silence followed. Harry felt all his anger leaving him as he saw tears forming in her eyes once again. It took him few seconds to realize what he just said, but unfortunately, it was a few seconds too late.

"I didn't know that you regretted it that much Harry. Maybe you really should have let that troll kill me then" she said with a weak voice. Hermione looked at his eyes for just a moment, then run out of the room.

Harry stood there, shocked by his own words. He looked at Ron and saw disgust and pity in his eyes.

"Well done mate" said Ron coldly. "Way to go"

"Did I really just say that Ron?" asked Harry. He hoped that it was just a dream. An illusion.

"Yes you did" said Ron simply. Harry sat on closest bed, buried his face in his hands and started crying. Ron wasn't finished thought.

"She was so happy that you would come today" said Ron. "Hermione wanted to tell you so much. She nearly went insane when she heard about the dementor attack. My mum and Sirius barely held her back, she wanted to run and bring you here herself. She argued with Dumbledore and looked like she was really about to attack him. It took us hours to calm her down"

Harry didn't answer him and continued crying. Ron wasn't finished though.

"You crushed her feelings, you know that right? I would like to take the credit but let's be honest, she is the reason how you managed to do those things you said, no, you bragged about"

Harry felt devastated. He really acted like an idiot. Ron was right. Hermione was always on his side when he needed. Once again, her crying face flashed through his mind. Harry stood up and punched the wall.

"Do you think she will forgive me Ron" asked Harry with hope in his voice.

"There is only one way to find out mate" said the redhead. Harry nodded and quickly wiped tears from his eyes and run downstairs, Ron closely behind him.

"Harry what is going on?" asked a worried Molly Weasley. "What happened to Hermione"

"Where is she?" asked Harry quickly.

"She left" answered another voice from behind. Harry turned around to see his godfather.

"WHAT" Harry shouted. "How can she leave?"

"She said she was going to her parents home. She looked really sad" said Sirius.

"How can you just let her leave" asked Harry. "It is dangerous out there"

"Calm down Harry. We have soon a meeting and she can just take the Knight Bus outside and her home is also warded" answered Molly in a calming tone.

Harry tried to calm down. He knew Hermione needed some alone time. She would definitely come back. After all, all her belongings were upstairs. Than it dawned on him.

"She lied" said Harry slowly, his eyes growing wide. "She didn't take anything with her did she?"

"What is the problem with it" asked Ron. "She will probably come back in a few days"

"But Ron, she didn't even go to her room. Did she have any money for knight bus?" asked Harry rapidly.

"No, I don't think so" said Ron.

"What does it mean" asked Sirius.

"That means she didn't go to her parents home" said Harry with panic in his voice. "We have to find her"

"Ok Harry, calm down" said Sirius. "I'll go search for her"

"No you are not" said Molly. "You can't leave this house Sirius"

"Okay, fine. I'll contact Remus so he can look for her. Molly, please apparate to Grangers and tell them to contact us if Hermione goes there"

"What happened? Why did she leave from all of a sudden?"

"It is my fault" said Harry. "I hurt her feelings and now she is gone. If anything happens to her-"

"Nothing will happen to her" said Sirius firmly. "I'll go contact Remus now. If necessary, I'll go and find her myself, screw Dumbledore. I won't let the girl that saved my life die just because my godson acted like a prat"

With this Sirius quickly run upstairs.

"I am going too, I'll be back in a few minutes. Stay here, the order members will come soon" said Molly and left.

"What now" asked Ron.

"I am going too. No, listen" said Harry, when he saw that Ron was about to protest. "It can be too late when we wait for Remus. She can't be far"

"I am coming too" said Ron.

"No you are not" answered Harry. "Someone has to tell Sirius and the others where I am or everyone will panic"

"Ok" said Ron, knowing that they don't have time to argue. "Be careful"

Harry just nodded and quickly left the house.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Harry wasn't really careful. He run around, not knowing where to look. He searched for the familiar bushy hair, but couldn't find anyone. It was raining he didn't see anyone outside. He kept running and barely held himself from screaming her name. He knew that she needed alone time, but the question is, where she found it.

He let his instincts take over and kept running. He ran to the same direction until he arrived at a park. He breathed heavily and looked around.

Then he saw her. She was sitting on a bank, her face buried in her hands. He ran towards her with relieve and this time, he just couldn't hold himself.

"Hermione" he shouted to her. She looked up and her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Harry?" said Hermione with a weak voice and tried to leave but Harry held her hand.

"Hermione, please listen" said Harry, his voice full of emotions. "I am sorry. I am really sorry. I don't know what came over me but I really acted like a stupid git. Please forgive me"

Hermione didn't answer him. She once again sat down and looked at her hands.

"Why?" she said finally. "Why do you need my forgiveness? I am just a bookworm. A know it all. Bushy haired, nagging bookworm"

"You are not" said Harry. He was almost pleading now. He couldn't believe that he made her think like that. "You are the most brilliant person I know. You are the best friend I could ever ask for. You are beautiful, smart, funny, loyal… you are just perfect. Without you, I would have died years ago. You saved me more than I can count. You remained by my side while everyone else left me. But Hermione, even more important than that, you are the most important person in my life. I would give my life just to make you smile again. Please Hermione, forgive me. I can't live without you"

Harry waited, surprised with his own words. She still didn't look in his eyes and he felt scared. What he said was the truth. If he refused to forgive him, he couldn't care less if he was alive or not.

"You really mean that?" she asked silently.

"Yes" said Harry firmly. "I really can't live without you. Please forgive me Hermione. I love you"

Silence. This time, Harry was sure she would slap him and run away. He ruined everything. Good work Potter he thought bitterly. Harry wanted to kick himself. He knew that he loved her for quiet a long time now. That was one of the biggest reasons why he was so angry at the idea of Hermione enjoying her life with Ron while he wasn't there. But he knew it was one sided and so he always kept it hidden. But now, at the worst possible moment, he let it slip.

Hermione looked up at him. Harry thought that he saw shock in her eyes and also glimpse of hope.

"Do you really mean that Harry" she once again asked slowly. This time, it was much harder for Harry to answer her question.

"Yes, I mean it. I love you. I am in love with you. Now I probably ruined our last chance to remain friends but I really can't take it back now. Harry Potter is in love with Hermione Granger. Now before you hex me, I should remind you to wait until we are back so you don't get in trouble with the ministry. You could probably slap me but…"

He couldn't finish because the girl in question pressed her lips firmly against his. All thoughts left Harry as he started kissing her back. They stayed like this for a whole minute before finally separating.

"I love you too" said Hermione looking him in the eyes.

"Are you sure" asked Harry, still thinking that she was about to hex him.

"Yes, quiet sure" said Hermione smiling. Harry also started to smile.

"Now, let's go back" said Harry. "Everyone is probably worried sick now"

"Everyone?" repeated Hermione, still a bit dizzy from the kiss. Suddenly it dawned on her. "Harry, what the bloody hell are you doing here?"

"What?" asked Harry, surprised by her sudden outburst.

"You shouldn't leave the headquarters. It is too dangerous" said Hermione and stood up.

"I don't want to hear this from you" said Harry, as she started pulling her. Hermione ignored his comment.

"Do you have your invisibility cloak" she asked. Harry shook her head.

"Ok, then at least take your wand out, we have to be careful" she said, while she took her own wand in her hand.

"I don't have it" said Harry, after searching for his wand. "I forgot it in Ron's room"

Hermione stopped and looked at him with surprise in her eyes.

"How can you leave without even taking your wand" said Hermione.

"I was worried about you" said Harry, defending himself. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It is cute but next time you try to save me, please don't forget your wand" she said. Then she pulled another wand from her pocket. "Here, take this one"

"Where did you get a second wand?" asked Harry.

"I bought it at the beginning of the summer" she answered while walking quickly. "We still can't use wandless magic, so I thought it is a good idea to have a reserve one"

"Hermione, did I ever mention that you are brilliant" said Harry and hugged her.

"You did a few times" she said smiling.

"And beautiful" continued Harry.

"That not as often" said Hermione blushing a little. "But don't tell anyone about it. It is kind of illegal. I told Ollivander that my first wand is broken to buy this one. I was also training a little since I came to headquarters. Next time, you could join me if you want"

They kept walking silently. Both had smiles on their faces and occasionally looked at each other. Harry couldn't believe how sad he was just 5 minutes ago. Now he felt happier than he ever felt. He hesitantly put his arm around Hermione's wrist. Her little smile was only confirmation he needed and they kept walking like this.

"Do you know where we are going? I didn't really look around while running" said Harry.

"Wait a minute" said Hermione. She held her hand in front of him. "Someone is watching us"

"How do you know" asked Harry.

"I put some monitoring charms around us, someone is definitely here" said Hermione.

"Really clever mudblood" came a soft voice. "Now Potter, if you two would come willingly, the dark lord wants to see you"

"Please let me have the mudblood father. Dark Lord only needs the Scarhead alive" said another voice.

Harry whirled around and saw Lucius Malfoy pointing his wand at them. His son stood right next to him with a grin that could rival his fathers.

_This was chapter one, I hope you guys liked it. Next chapter there will be a fight, lots of arguing between our heroes and order members. Also, some distrust will start between Harry and a certain Headmaster. _

_To clear something. this was only chapter 1, it doesn't mean hermione was totally right or Harry was totally wrong. hermione had problems with what he said and not why he said it. She has reasons why she acted like that (it was never stated in canon so I am writin my own version) she still feels guilty for it. No one is perfect. you will see in the next chapters. Please review. Any idea or comment is welcome. Thanks for reading._


	2. Chapter 2: Ambush

_**A/N:**__ I want to clear a few things. This won't be a Ron bashing story. Also, a few people complained that I made it seem like Harry was wrong to be angry. Chapter 1 was written in Harry's PoV, this is why it seemed like he was wrong. Hermione had problems with a few things he said but that doesn't mean she doesn't gave him right. They will eventually come to this later and you will see what I mean. _

_Original OotP book doesn't explain why Hermione or Ron couldn't contact Harry and what Dumbledore really told to them. I don't think they would simply obey Dumbledore, so this story will have its own explanation. _

_I want to thank everyone that reviewed to this story. Seeing people interested in the story made me write this a lot faster. I hope you will like it._

_Oh, and I disclaim everything besides the plot._

**CHAPTER 2: Ambush**

"You!" growled Harry.

"That's right Potter. I told you that you would pay for what you did." said Draco grinning.

"I wasn't talking to you Malfoy," said Harry. "I was talking to the scum that you call father."

"Why you-"

"No Draco, let him talk" said Lucius softly. "We will see if he can still talk like this after a few Crucio's."

Harry was about to retort when Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.

"Don't talk with them. We have to attack before they do." she whispered to him. Harry nodded.

"When I say now" said Hermione. The Malfoy's didn't notice anything since they were to fixated on their own victory.

"The Dark Lord will be happy when I finally bring you to him." said Lucius with a very uncharacteristic grin.

"Ready?" asked Hermione, while trying to not move her lips.

"I will be rewarded beyond believe. I will become the closest to Dark Lord himself. He will trust me more than anyone else. I will-"

"NOW" screamed Hermione and both pointed their wands at their enemies.

"_Stupefy_" they shouted at the same time. Red lights erected from their wands. Hermione's spell hit a careless Draco in the face and he fell down unconscious. Unfortunately, Lucius noticed at the last moment what was happening and blocked Harry's spell.

"_Crucio"_ hissed Lucius. Hermione dodged the spell while Harry threw another stunner. Malfoy once again blocked it and laughed.

"Is that the best you can do Potter" said Lucius and threw another curse at Harry. Harry dodged it again. Hermione tried a blasting hex but the Death Eater used another shield.

"Don't interfere mudblood" said Lucius.

"Because you are a symbol of fairness right?" hissed Hermione sarcastically. Both Harry and Hermione continued sending hexes at Malfoy. He was more experienced and used much more lethal curses than them. But he was slower and the younger ones dodged a few spells that he threw at them. Hermione looked Harry in the eyes for a moment and he understood at once what she was up to. They both started to slowly walk towards Lucius while sending hex after hex and avoiding Lucius's curses.

"You can't dance forever" growled Lucius. He was barely moving but he still looked out of breath.

"And you can't block forever" said Harry. He threw another blasting hex at Malfoy. Malfoy erected another shield to block it. It withstood the spell, only to be shattered by Hermione's own blasting hex. Lucius stumbled and tried to regain his balance. Unfortunately for him, few seconds he lost were enough for the other two.

"_REDUCTO_" screamed both Harry and Hermione. Lucius hastily tried to make another shield but it couldn't held the combined power of two spells. The spells, while weakened by his shield, still hit Malfoy on his wand arm. He screamed in pain as he fell to the floor. He was holding his nearly destroyed arm.

"Wait" Harry shouted a little too late. Malfoy grabbed his son with his healthy arm and whirled around. Hermione threw a stunner at him but Lucius apparated with his son before the spell could hit him.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, both out of breath. Then Hermione slowly walked to Harry and hugged him tightly.

"Are you okay?" asked Harry with concern while he hugged her back.

"Yes, don't worry." said Hermione.

"Let's go home." said Harry, when he saw that Hermione was about to say something. "I doubt we will be as lucky when we meet someone else. We can discuss everything else later"

Hermione nodded. They snuggled at each other and started walking when Hermione stopped him.

"I think we won't have to worry about going back Harry" said Hermione.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry with concern. She simply pointed her finger. A wizard stumbled right towards them- a very angry looking wizard.

"You two are in serious trouble" growled the wizard.

XxXxXxXxX

There was chaos in Grimmauld Place number 12.

"I can't sit here and do nothing" said Sirius, and stood up. "I am going to search for them."

"Sit down Sirius" said Remus angrily. "We have already one idiotic life saving attempt, we don't need another one."

"Remus is right," said Molly. "We have no one else left to search for you, so please sit down."

"My godson is missing," said Sirius loudly. "I refuse to just sit here and do nothing."

"Kingsley, Mad Eye and Tonks are already searching for them" said Remus angrily. "You leaving won't help anything. Besides, Albus said-"

"Don't start with that old fool" screamed Sirius angrily.

"You just hate him because he doesn't allow you to leave this place." said Molly.

"Maybe I am" said Sirius. "He has no right to restrict our lives. Neither mine nor Harry's."

"He is only doing what is right" Molly shouted. She too was on her feet now. "Without him, you would have lost your freedom in a few days."

"At least I would have a freedom. Even for a few days" bellowed Sirius.

"STOP!" said Lupin suddenly, with discipline in his voice. "Sit down, both of you. We can't afford to fight with each other at the moment. We can just hope that the children will arrive safely"

Sirius started pacing the room while Molly once again sat down. After a few minutes Sirius once again opened his mouth to say something when they heard the door open.

"Who is there?" asked Molly.

"Just a pair of idiots" came another, angry voice from the door. Then the door opened and 2 red faced teenagers entered the room, followed by a very angry Mad Eye Moody.

After that, all hell broke lose.

XxXxXxXxX

Lord Voldemort was angry. No, he was furious. He pointed his wand at the pathetic figure in front of him.

"_Crucio"_

The man screamed with pain. He begged his lord but the most feared Dark Lord in century didn't stop. He held the curse for a whole minute before finally stopping it. His servant lie there, covered in his own blood, trying to maintain conscious.

"You finally found Potter" said Voldemort with a barely controlled anger. "But you couldn't bring him to me."

"He wasn't alone my Lord" complained Lucius in a weak voice.

"Is that your excuse" said the Dark Lord, when his anger started to rise again. "You got defeated by two children and this is YOUR EXCUSE. I can see it in your pathetic mind. You had the child and wasted your time bragging like an idiot."

"I will definitely bring him next time my Lord" said Lucius in a pleading voice.

"There won't be a next time" growled the Dark Lord. "Not even that brat is stupid enough to leave his safe place a second time. You wasted that chance."

He once again cast the Cruciatus curse on his servant. He enjoyed the screams of the arrogant pureblood a little longer and then stopped. No matter what mistake he made, Lucius was useful. Breaking him wouldn't bring him anything.

"Let this be a warning Lucius" said Voldemort. "If you make another mistake, I won't be as merciful. Now take him out and leave me alone."

Two other Death Eaters quickly came and took a barely conscious Lucius Malfoy out of the room. All the others quickly bowed in front of their Lord and left.

"Enjoy the few extra days you gained Potter" said Voldemort. "At the end, it won't change anything."

XxXxXxXxX

"-DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW IRRESPOSIBBLE-"

Harry now knew how Ron felt whenever his mom screamed at him. They came back half hours ago and Mrs. Weasley didn't seem like she would be finished any time soon. Everyone else stood there and waited for their turn.

"-YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED. IT IS NOT SAFE OUT THERE, AND YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE RESPONSIBLE ONE HERMIONE GRANGER-"

Hermione stood there with her best friend and listened to Molly's never ending rant. At the beginning she was terrified, then for a while she wanted to object to her. Now she only felt bored.

"-AND HARRY, HOW CAN YOU JUST LEAVE WHEN WE CLEARLY TOLD YOU NOT TO-"

Hermione wondered how she managed to spontaneously find so many topics and change between the two of them so easily. She guessed that she had enough practice with Fred and George.

"-DO YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS OF HER SAFETY YOUNG MAN-"

Hermione looked at Harry. She feared for a second that Harry couldn't stay silent after this statement but she saw that she didn't have anything to worry. Harry already stopped listening what she was saying.

"-YOU ARE STILL CHILDREN. YOU CAN'T JUST-"

"I think it is quiet enough Molly" Sirius finally cut in. "I also have to talk with them and it would be better if they can still hear me when I am talking."

"But-" said Molly, she clearly wasn't finished yet.

"No Molly, it is enough" said Arthur firmly. "I think they now know how stupid they acted. Let Sirius talk with them."

Molly thought for a second and then nodded.

"Fine, I have to contact Albus so he knows that we can finally have the meeting, that we HAD TO delay" said Molly. She left but not before giving Harry and Hermione one last sharp look.

"Thank you Sirius" said Fred to the old marauder. "Five minutes longer and they would have broken our record."

"What record?" asked Ron.

"Who can make mum rant the longest record of course. They nearly broke it." said George. The Weasley children laughed at that but Sirius remained serious.

"You two, follow me." said Sirius and walked upstairs. Harry and Hermione didn't have much of a choice and followed him. They entered a small room.

"This is where I keep Buckbeak" answered Sirius their unasked question. "Now-"

"If you are going to give us a lecture, please don't bother," said Hermione. "Mrs. Weasley already gave enough of that."

"Please, I know that you didn't even listen to most of it," said Sirius. Both blushed at this, confirming his statement. "I am not going to lecture you. You are safe now and this is what counts. Now tell me what happened?"

"We already told it. I found Hermione, we talked and decided to come back. We met Moody on the way here" said Harry.

"Harry, you are talking to a marauder" said Sirius. "I can see that you are leaving something out. Now I make you an offer, tell me what happened and together we will find a way to tell it to the others. If you don't tell me then I'll tell everyone what I know and you will have to explain it yourself."

"This is called black mail, you know that right?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I don't have a problem with that" said Sirius grinning.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and they both nodded. Harry started to explain everything since he arrived at Grimmauld Place, while Hermione corrected some of his mistakes. When they finally finished their story, Sirius could only stare.

"So you two actually fought against Lucius Malfoy?" asked Sirius.

"This is what I said, yes." answered Harry.

"Impressive." said Sirius approvingly. But then something else came to his mind. "Wait a minute. Ron found your wand in his room. This is why we were so worried to begin with. How could you have fought him Harry?"

Hermione blushed at this and pulled out both wands from her pocket.

"Well you see, I had a second wand with me."

"Am I right to assume that it was not just luck that you had a second wand?" asked Sirius who looked amused at her embarrassment.

She quickly explained about her daily training –which Harry now noticed was also a secret- and how she bought a second wand.

"Please don't tell anyone" she said after she finished her story. "It is kind of illegal you know."

Sirius laughed.

"This is hilarious. I never expected to do something like that Hermione. My godson definitely isn't a good influence on you." said Sirius. Then he tried to act serious. "You shouldn't break a law young woman."

"Well you are right" said Hermione. "It is just a hobby of mine and this is not even the last time. One time, I used a time turner illegally to save an escaped prisoner. I should really stop doing such things."

"Ouch" said Sirius, while Harry laughed. "Anyways, we could probably say the others that Harry took one of the spare wands downstairs. This is what we guessed before."

"What spare wands?" asked Hermione.

"Black family is a really ancient family" said Sirius. "There are wands hidden everywhere so in an emergency, no one would stay unarmed. Look." He went to an old bookshelf and took out a wand, which was barely visible behind the books.

"What do you mean by Black family" asked Harry.

"This is my old home Harry" said Sirius. "Welcome to the Ancient and Noble House of Black."

Harry was surprised to see how hate filled Sirius's words were.

"Ok, this is a matter for another time," said Sirius, his eyes started to twinkle with joy. "Now more importantly: Are you two a couple now?"

"Well," started Harry blushing. "We actually didn't have much time to discuss this."

"Then talk now" he said and went to the door. "I will tell the others that you are discussing something important. No one can hear you here. But if you ask my opinion, you two would make an excellent couple and waiting for another two years would be waste of time."

He winked at them and left, leaving two confused teenager behind.

"What did he mean by that?" asked Hermione. Harry just shrugged.

They just sat there in silent, trying to avoid each others eyes. After a few minutes, they couldn't stand the silence anymore and both started to talk.

"Harry-"

"Hermione-"

"Fine you go first" said Hermione with a smile on her face.

"Okay" said Harry and took a deep breath. "First, I want to say that I don't want you to feel forced to anything. Like I said, I love you –I really love you- but if you don't love me back, it won't change anything between us. Well, I hope it anyways. If you accept to be my girlfriend, you would make me the happiest man in the world. So before you say anything that would cause me a lot of mental damage, I at least want to ask. Hermione Granger, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"So no pressure right?" said Hermione giggling. Harry actually smiled at that. "Well, I would like to answer you with another question. Do you think I would kiss someone just because he said that he loves me?"

"I knew you wouldn't accept but-" Harry's eyes suddenly went wide. "Wait a minute. You DID kiss me back there."

"Yes, I did." said Hermione with a smile on her face.

"What does it mean?" asked a confused Harry.

"That means that I would love to be your girlfriend Harry Potter" said Hermione and once again, her lips found his. They shared a long, passionate kiss before finally separating.

"So you were actually teasing me." said Harry, with a goofy grin on his face. His arms were around her wrist.

"You don't say" said Hermione, her arms still wrapped around his neck.

"Well, do you want to go downstairs my lovely little bookworm?" asked Harry, who had a hard time to stop grinning.

"Now that we have even more secrets that will eventually cause chaos- I would love to." said Hermione. She gave him a last peck on his lips they left the room.

When they entered the kitchen hand in hand, they noticed that it wasn't as empty as before. The whole room looked at them and everyone went silent. Sirius was looking at them with a grin on his face but he was definitely the only one.

_That was chapter 2. I know I promised a confrontation with Dumbledore but I needed a good point to end the chapter and this one was the best._

_Also to avoid confusion, they are not having an Order meeting so not the whole order is there, just a few. That also means that all Weasley children at the table, including a certain red headed girl._

_Please review. I know I make mistakes, but I am trying to avoid it as much as possible. Please review, any comment is welcome._


	3. Chapter 3: Distrust

_Here is Chapter three. I am really happy with all the comments for this story. I hope this chapter won't be disappointing. It was really hard to write this time. _

_I disclaim everything besides the plot._

**CHAPTER 3: Distrust**

An awkward silence followed their entrance. Harry had no idea what was wrong and looked at Hermione. She on the other hand looked irritated and just shook her head.

Sirius was grinning at them and gave a quick thumps up. Everyone else looked like they had just grown a second head. Dumbledore's eyes were wide and he looked thoughtful. Ginny looked like she was about to cry. Ron just looked open mouthed. Molly's face changed from shock to anger, and then to an obvious fake smile in just a few seconds.

"Come and sit down" said Molly with a forced smile. "We have a few questions for you. Hermione, you can sit here." She pointed at the chair between Sirius and Ron. "And Harry, you can sit there." She pointed at the chair between Remus and Ginny.

Harry wanted to object, but had really no idea what to say. They went to the table without separating their hands.

Hermione was ready to argue but before she could say anything, Sirius stood up.

"You can sit here Hermione, I have a few things that I have to talk with Remus" said Sirius and secretly winked at her. Ignoring Molly's angry look, he sat between Ginny and Remus. Hermione gave him a thankful look and they sat together next to Ron, who still looked too shocked to react.

They quietly continued to eat. Harry noticed that Dumbledore was avoiding his eyes. For some reason, the old headmaster was trying to meet Hermione's eyes, who determinedly avoided looking at him.

"Miss Granger, could you please tell us what happened today?" said Dumbledore finally.

"We already told everyone sir" said Harry. "I am sure you know it."

"We both now that you didn't tell everything Harry" said Dumbledore. Hermione was still not looking at the headmaster.

"If you really have to know Professor: We got attacked by Lucius Malfoy and his son, we dueled with them, injured Lucius, then they escaped" said Hermione, who was slowly getting sick of their questions.

"WHAT" echoed in the kitchen.

After telling their story one more time, Harry turned to Hermione.

"Come to think of it, considering his rank by the death eaters, Malfoy wasn't much of a challenge" asked Harry.

"Didn't you notice that he wasn't even moving?" asked Hermione, rolling her eyes.

"Yes. I knew purebloods were lazy, but I didn't know they were THAT lazy" said Harry.

"Of course he wasn't that lazy" said Hermione. "I am pretty sure that he was protecting his son"

"What do you mean?" asked Harry. She rolled her eyes once again.

"We used blasting hexes Harry. If he dodged one, it could have hit Draco and maybe even kill him" she said angrily.

"That makes more sense" said Harry sheepishly.

"I am disappointed in you two" said Dumbledore sadly. "You could have killed someone there."

"Wait, what?" said Harry loudly.

"They were trying to kill us sir" said Hermione, equally angry. "Do you expect us to use stinging hexes?"

"You could have stunned them" said Molly. She looked ready to start another lecture, but Harry didn't allow it this time.

"HE used unforgivables and dark curses on us" hissed Hermione.

"Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater" said Dumbledore slowly. "There should be differences between you and a Death Eater, don't you think so?"

"With all respect sir" started Harry with obvious lack of respect. "One of his shields was able to hold five of our stunners. We penetrated the same shield with only two reductos."

"I agree with them. I have to ask you Albus, what makes Lucius's life more important than these children" asked Sirius.

"I didn't say that" said Dumbledore. "But it is not good that they can stay so calm when they nearly killed someone."

"Okay Professor you are right." said Hermione sarcastically. "We are sorry that we defended ourselves."

Harry looked at his new girlfriend. He never saw Hermione that aggressive, especially when she was talking with an authority figure.

"Miss Granger, don't forget that I am your headmaster" said Dumbledore.

"I am not disrespecting you but don't forget that we are not at school Professor" said Hermione. "I really don't want to be rude, but could you please tell us what you are accusing us?"

"Did you ever think what could have happened if you hit him on the head?" asked Dumbledore, hoping to reach them this time.

"The world would be rid of one another scum" said Sirius loudly.

"Sirius!" said a shocked Molly. "How can you say that?"

"I am not saying that they should have killed him" said Sirius. "But I am happy that they are unharmed and you should be too."

Dumbledore sighed but didn't say anything else.

"How did they even find us" asked Harry suddenly. "I mean, it is not likely that they were just wandering around, is it?"

"No, it isn't" answered Dumbledore. "This place is protected with Fidelius, so there is no way they could find it. Unfortunately, even thought no one besides the secret keeper –which is me- can tell where this place is, that doesn't stop them from saying the general location of the headquarters."

"So someone betrayed the order" said George.

"No" answered Dumbledore. "But as you know, we have spies in Voldemort's group of Death Eaters and I have to say, I didn't think that it was much of a deal if they had this knowledge."

Harry and Hermione blushed a little bit.

"Does that mean that Death Eaters are patrolling the general location of this place, hoping to find someone?" asked Hermione.

"The ones that wouldn't make anyone suspicious do that, like Malfoy's" answered Dumbledore.

Harry started to feel ashamed again, but Hermione had another question.

"What about all the under age magic we made?" she asked. Harry's eyes went wide. He totally forgot about that.

"It won't be a problem" answered Dumbledore.

"Why not?" asked Harry. He once again felt irritated with the headmaster, who was looking anywhere but him.

"Neither you nor Miss Granger is here" answered Dumbledore. "At least for the ministry you aren't. That means they can't know that you did that and they have to assume that it was an adult"

"Can't they identify us with our magical signature or something?" asked Hermione.

"No, they can't" said Harry. "Don't you remember the summer after our first year? Dobby used magic in Privet Drive and I got a warning for underage magic."

"Exactly" said Dumbledore. "The ministry can track when someone used magic or where but they can't know who used it."

"This is kind of pointless, isn't it" asked Harry. "I mean, we could use any spell we want in a wizarding home and no one would know it"

"They expect the adults to be responsible enough to stop their children" said Sirius.

Harry and Hermione barely stopped themselves from laughing loudly.

"Pureblood law?" asked Hermione instead.

"Yes" answered Sirius.

"Idiots" whispered Hermione. Everyone at the table nodded, even thought most of them were purebloods themselves.

"So are you two-" started Fred with a grin that promised a lot of teasing in near future.

"I apologize but I have few things to do. I have to go." said Dumbledore quickly. He stood up and left the room without looking at anyone. Especially at Harry.

"Can I talk with you two in private?" asked Ron suddenly, looking at his two best friends.

"I guess. I am already done eating. Thank you Mrs. Weasley" said Hermione. "Are you coming Harry?"

Harry quickly nodded and followed Hermione and Ron. He thought that he saw a hint of anger in Ginny's eyes but quickly dismissed it.

"So are they together now?" asked George in an excited voice to Sirius, as soon as they left.

"This is none of our business George" said Molly sternly.

"Yes, they are" said Sirius happily, ignoring Mrs. Weasley. Weasley twins gave each other a high five.

XxXxXxXxX

"How are you guys?" asked Ron awkwardly when they entered his room. "You really didn't get hurt, did you?"

"No. I guess we were lucky" said Harry, wondering what his friend wanted to say.

"Oh. That's good" said Ron.

"Ron, what's wrong?" asked Hermione with concern.

"Soo-" started Ron.

"So?" asked Harry when he didn't continue.

"So, are you guys, -you know- together now?" asked Ron looking at hiss feets.

"How do you know that?" asked Harry.

"You mean besides the fact that you didn't separate your hands since you came and that goofy grin you had on your faces?" asked Ron. They blushed at his question.

"Yes, besides that" said Hermione.

"Sirius told us before you came down" said Ron with a half hearted grin.

"That bastard" murmured Harry.

"Wait, we decided to date after he left. How could he tell it before it was sure?" asked Hermione furiously.

"Well, **he** looked pretty sure. He said that you guys were now together and needed some alone time" said Ron uncomfortably.

"Alone time? That sounds like we were there to snog or something" complained Hermione.

"Didn't you?" asked Ron, while rising an eyebrow.

"Well, we did kiss but it wasn't-" she noticed the look on Ron's face and blushed. Silence fell between three friends.

"Why are you upset Ron?" asked Hermione.

"I am not upset" lied Ron.

"Yes you are." said Hermione. "We know you Ronald Weasley. Don't even try to lie to us. What's wrong?"

"You know that she won't let it go mate" said Harry. Ron sighed.

"It is silly really" said Ron. "Now that you two are a couple, what will happen?"

"What do you mean?" asked Harry. It was starting to get on his nerves.

"I mean, you guys will hug, walk hand in hand, kiss and do other similar things, right?" said Ron.

"You forgot snogging but you are mostly right. Your point?" said Hermione, enjoying their blush.

"Well we are the golden trio." said Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes, she hated that nickname. "Now, nothing will be same"

"Of course it will be" said Harry. Ron looked at him with surprise in his eyes.

"We are still friends and a trio" said Hermione. "As long as you don't have a problem with us kissing or holding hands, nothing will change."

"As long as you don't do it too often" said Ron.

"I can't promise anything" said Hermione grinning.

"I am doomed, right" said Ron finally smiling.

While Harry was to busy wondering how Hermione could talk like that without blushing, she hugged Ron. The redhead looked terrified at first but after seeing that Harry wasn't angry, she clumsily hugged her back.

"Friends?" asked Harry with a smile after Hermione let him go.

"Mates." said Ron and they gave each other a one armed hug.

"I barely ate something because of this" complained Ron. Other two laughed.

"It is pretty late and they most likely have a meeting. Ask Kreacher to bring you something" said Hermione.

"Who is Kreacher?" asked Harry.

"The house elf that lives here" answered Ron.

"Wait what?" said Harry, shock evident in his eyes. "Hermione Granger is asking an elf to do something? Who are you and what did you do to our Hermione?"

"Very funny. I just decided that it wasn't in elves best interest to force them to be free if they are happy with their condition" said Hermione nonchalantly. "For now."

"Decided?" screamed Ron and burst out laughing. "The half of the order argued with her for two hours including Dumbledore before she finally gave in."

Hermione went red while Harry laughed.

"I wasn't that bad" said Hermione, but she didn't look angry.

"I saw you dueling with Sirius in order to free Kreacher" said Ron accusingly.

"For the last time Ron, I was training with him and it had nothing to do with Kreacher." said Hermione.

"Why were you even training Hermione?" asked Harry curiously before Ron could say anything.

"I just think it is a good idea and I am happy with my decision, considering our meeting with Malfoy today. Only Sirius and Ron know about it and Sirius even joined me a few times, opposite to a certain other lazy git" said Hermione and looked accusingly at her redheaded friend.

"We are cleaning this house the whole and we have little time to actually relax." complained Ron.

"Well, Voldemort won't wait for us to have free time" answered Hermione. Ron winched at the name.

"Wait a minute. Since when are you saying Voldemort's name?" asked Harry.

"You are a bad influence to her" said Ron. "Why can't you two just say You-Know-Who and everyone would be happy."

Harry wanted to argue about this but Hermione stopped him.

"No use" she whispered to Harry. "Believe me, I tried."

"Anyway, will you guys explain what this whole order business is? And why are we in Sirius's house?" asked Harry.

Ron and Hermione told him quickly everything they knew about Order of the Phoenix and the headquarters. Throughout the story, Harry noticed Hermione's obvious disrespect towards a certain headmaster.

"What do you have against Professor Dumbledore?" asked Harry after they finished. Hermione huffed.

"She had a few arguments with Dumbledore this summer" said Ron knowingly.

_CRACK_

"Will you stop doing that" screamed Ron angrily. 2 redheads materialized in the middle of the room seemingly out of thin air.

"Sorry Ronnie" said Fred, who was obviously not sorry. "We couldn't resist"

"Congratulations you two" winked George. "We can take Ronnie and leave if you have to 'talk' in private."

"No, not necessary" answered Hermione without blushing. Harry was starting to wonder about her lack of embarrassment. He decided to ask it later in private.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" asked Fred and sat down on Ron's bed.

"I was telling Harry about Miss. Granger's little arguments with Dumbledore" answered Ron.

"That was hilarious." said George happily. "Our little bookworm turned out to be a real rebel"

This time, Hermione actually went red on the cheeks, making Harry wonder even more.

"She called him an irresponsible old fool" said Fred grinning.

"I didn't" defended Hermione herself. "I said that he was acting like an irresponsible old fool"

"Why did you even argue with him?" asked Harry.

"Because of his poor treatment towards you of course" said Hermione, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry, starting to think that he was asking a lot of questions since he came here.

"Let me start from the beginning. You know that we didn't send you any proper letters this summer right?" said Hermione.

"Considering his screams from before, I think he knows it" said Ron.

"Once again, I am sorry" said Harry but Hermione brushed his apology.

"Don't apologize Harry. I am sorry that we didn't do anything about it. I can imagine how you felt." said Hermione sincerely and squeezed his hand.

"What is done is done mate, but I am sorry too" said Ron.

"Anyway, one week after the start of the summer, I got a letter from Dumbledore. It said that I should avoid writing to you as much as possible and that I shouldn't give any information to you, for your own safety." she huffed once again.

"We were already here in the headquarters at that time" said Ron.

"I tried to write him and ask him for permission. I found his reasoning ridiculous but didn't want to risk your safety. But he didn't answer any of my bloody letters" said Hermione angrily. This time, it was Harry's turn to squeeze her hand to calm her down. She smiled to him and continued.

"I wrote to Ron and asked him to talk to Dumbledore for me. He wrote back that Dumbledore insistent about this. Then Mrs. Weasley wrote to me and said that if I was really your friend, then I should think for your safety before anything else."

"I tried to accept this at first, but after seeing your letters, that were practically pleading for a real answer, I couldn't stand it anymore. I thought that I could convince Dumbledore if I could just talk to him face to face. So I talked with my parents and came here. I tried to talk with Dumbledore but he just ignored all my points and said that he knew what was best for you and that I shouldn't worry about it."

"Her argument led to another one between the headmaster and Sirius but he stood firm." said Ron.

"Afterwards, he started avoiding me" said Hermione angrily. "I had a few arguments with Ron's mother, but I finally gave in."

"More like, she stopped after even my mum got sick of arguing with her and she said that Dumbledore would bring you here when the time comes." Said George.

"That was a first for mum" said Fred grinning. "She actually enjoys arguing."

"This is when I started training to keep myself busy" said Hermione, ignoring the twins. "I kept it secret from everyone besides Ron and Sirius."

"What about us?" said George.

"That doesn't count. You idiots apparated in the room when I was training" said Hermione angrily.

"She hexed us afterwards" said Fred.

"We couldn't sit for hours" said George grinning.

"You guys deserved it" said Hermione.

"Seeing you in that sexy outfit was totally worth it" said Fred grinning.

"Oi" said Harry.

"Don't be jealous young Potter. We won't steal your girlfriend" said George.

"Unless you break up with her of course" said Fred.

"Yes, if you break up, then there is no promises." said George.

"That will never happen, so don't worry about it" said Harry firmly. Hermione smiled at him.

"Maybe she would dump you for a certain sexy redhead" said Fred.

"Who knows, everything could happen" said George.

"I really doubt that" said Hermione smiling. "As I said, I decided to keep myself from arguing with anyone. This is, until that dementor incident." she said darkly.

"She went livid" said Ron. "I think I never saw her that angry, even when she punched Malfoy."

"She started screaming at Dumbledore" said Fred happily. "Then she said-"

"Anyway" said Hermione loudly while glaring at the Weasleys. "Sirius started to scream as well and he was probably even worse than me."

"No he wasn't" said George grinning.

"Maybe close, but not worse" said Fred. Hermione once again ignored them.

"At the end, Dumbledore said that he would bring you here as soon as possible and we calmed down."

"Well, Sirius calmed down. Mum had to give you calming draught before you finally calm down." said Ron.

"I am not really sure why I am cold against Dumbledore, but I just don't trust him as much as before" finished Hermione thoughtfully.

"I can certainly understand that" said Harry supportively.

The twins left after chatting a little longer. They talked for a while when Hermione finally stood up.

"I should be going to bed now. I am really tired, it was a hectic day."

Harry then noticed that he too was pretty tired. Hermione leaned to him gave him a kiss before leaving the room.

"Wipe that stupid grin of your face Harry, we should also sleep" said Ron, half amused, half irritated.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry, who was still staring at the door.

"Forget it" said Ron.

Ron tossed Harry one of his pyjamas, and they quickly changed their clothes. But before they could sleep, they heard a few noises from outside.

"Do you hear that?" asked Harry. But before Ron could answer, the voices went louder.

"_HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?"_

"Is that Ginny?" asked Ron worriedly.

"_Stop acting like an idiot Ginny"_

"And that was Hermione" said Harry. Then they heard an explosion.

"Let's go, something is wrong" said Harry and ran to Ginny and Hermione's room. Ron followed him quickly.

They run outside and entered the closest door to their room.

"What is going on he-" started Harry but his voice disappeared as he saw the picture in front of him.

Hermione was standing with her wand in her hand. She had a deep cut on her left cheek and had fury in her eyes. She was looking at Ginny, who was lying at the floor. She also had her wand in her hand and looked at Hermione with obvious hate.

"Don't do another mistake Ginny" hissed Hermione furiously. "I won't be as merciful next time."

"You are a traitor Hermione Granger, don't you tell me what to do" screamed Ginny.

"What the hell are you two doing?" asked Ron angrily and ran to her sister, while Harry went to Hermione.

Then the door opened again. Mrs. Weasley and Sirius entered the room and looked at them for a few seconds.

"Okay, what is going on here" demanded Molly Weasley.

_I hope you guys liked it and please leave a comment. The part with Ron is obviously not over yet but there won't be any Ron bashing in this story. Dumbledore is also not evil but he will still cause a few problems. Next chapter will be interesting, with Ginny's and Molly's reaction._

_Also, I know Hermione's temper may look a little out of character but you will soon see why she is like that, don't worry._


	4. Chapter 4: Dumbledore and some Weasley's

_A/N: I am sorry to make you wait so long. This chapter was hard to write. I am not really satisfied with the dialog at the beginning, so I may come back to it and change it a little._

_As always, I don't own anything besides the plot._

**Chapter 4: Dumbledore and some Weasley's**

"What is going on here?" demanded Molly. She was furious, but both Hermione and her daughter ignored her.

"I am not a traitor" growled Hermione.

"You stole him from me," screamed Ginny and pointed her wand at Hermione.

"He was never yours Ginny and you know that" said Hermione. No matter how angry she was, she still felt sorry for the younger witch. Everyone else just stood there and watched the display, not knowing what to do.

"I love him. I always loved him" screamed Ginny, she was openly crying now.

"You now that he never loved you back" said Hermione as soft as possible. "Not the way you want. You have to accept that."

"I am not accepting anything Granger" screamed Ginny with a crazy look on her face. She shot another spell at Hermione. Hermione blocked it with a shield but didn't attack back.

"Don't do this Ginny. You are my friend, I don't want to hurt you" said Hermione. "But if you don't leave me another choice, then I WILL."

Harry couldn't help but feel proud with her girlfriend. He could see how angry she was, but she was still trying to help Ginny. But Ginny didn't listen to her warning.

"_Stupe-"_ started Ginny. But Hermione was much faster than her.

"_Expelliarmus_" screamed Hermione. Ginny's wand flew from her hand. With a simple accio, Hermione summoned the wand to herself.

"Stop it Ginny" she repeated. Her free hand was on her cheek. Harry noticed that it was a much deeper cut than he first thought.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO" cried Ginny. "You think you are something special. You are a bad looking, nerdy bookworm. Tell me, how many doses of love potion did you use on Harry so he would like you, you know-it-all little bitch-"

_SLAP_

With all her power, Hermione slapped Ginny. She stumpled and fell on the floor, holding her cheek.

"How dare you hurt my daughter. _Stupefy_" screamed Molly and a red beam of light shot from her wand right at Hermione, only to be blocked by a furious Harry.

"Harry?" said Hermione with surprise. It was obvious that she didn't even notice the others.

"Are you okay Hermione?" asked Harry who was pointing his wand at Molly.

"Lower your wands right now, both of you" screamed Molly, while Ron went to his sister and helped her.

"Molly, it would be good if you could stop screaming and making demands. They are not little kids" said Sirius in a bored tone. Hermione had still her wand on Ginny, while Harry had his on Molly. Ron just stood there, clearly confused.

"Okay Ginny, please tell me what happened here" said Molly.

"She attacked me" screamed Ginny. "She insulted me and told me to stay away from Harry and after I refused, she just attacked me."

"You little scarlet-" started Molly, who was ready to attack Hermione. But Sirius came between them.

"Is that true Hermione?" he asked seriously. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Are you really asking this Sirius?" she asked. "If this is what happened, then who cut my face?"

"I was defending myself" said Ginny.

"Liar" growled Harry before Hermione could say it. "Hermione would never do that. Love, are you okay, let me look at that cut."

Hermione looked at her boyfriend with thankful eyes. She really wanted to snog him senseless right there, but knew it wouldn't really help her case.

"It does hurt a little. Do you know any good healing spells?" He nodded. She kissed him on his cheek for his concern. "Good, could you please heal it? I really don't want to see anyone else near me with a wand in hand. Thanks for protecting me love."

"Always" said Harry.

"Can you please tell me what really happened here?" asked Sirius. It was obvious that he didn't believe what Ginny said.

"She started accusing me with stealing her boyfriend. I told her that Harry and I love each other and that I was sorry. Not for loving Harry mind you, but for hurting her. But then when I turned my back, she used a cutting curse." Now Hermione looked directly at Ginny. "If I hadn't move in time, that could have done serious damage and even kill me, did you know that?"

"Harry is mine" said Ginny, ignoring her statement. "I love him and he will love me as well."

"No Ginny." said Harry calmly. He was barely controlling himself, but he knew that it was important. "I love Hermione and I will always love her. You have to move on."

"What about me?" asked Ginny pleading. "I love you more than her. I love you more than anyone."

Both Harry and Hermione just shook their heads. Hermione knew that Ginny had no idea how much she loved Harry, but she was not about to argue it with her.

"You don't love me Ginny. This is not love." said Harry.

"I always loved you"

"You had a crush on boy who lived, not me" said Harry.

"It was only a crush Ginny. A crush that is quickly turning to an obsession" said Hermione. She knew that Ginny had problems when it came to Harry and she really didn't want to lose her best female friend.

"It is real love" said Ginny desperately. "I always loved him."

"You loved me before you even meet me. How can it be real love Ginny?" asked Harry. His patient was slowly fading. Ginny was getting hysterical now.

"That's enough" said Molly. "You are not going to torture my daughter"

"She is not torturing him" said Harry angrily.

"I am trying to bring her out of the hole that you yourself put her in to" said Hermione accusingly.

"THIS IS IT" screamed Molly. "LEAVE THIS HOUSE RIGHT NOW."

Hermione looked at her with obvious shock. No matter how much she disliked her methods, she always saw Molly as a second mother figure. She felt tears forming in her eyes but stopped herself. She didn't want to cry in front of them. Before she could answer, Harry talked with venom in his voice.

"If Hermione is not welcome in this house, then neither I am" said Harry and held her hand.

"YOU ARE STAYING HERE YOUNG MAN" said Molly. "DUMBLEDORE-"

"YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER" Harry cut her of angrily. "If Hermione leaves then I am going with her."

"Just like me"

Just like everyone else, Hermione looked at Ron with surprise. The redhead spoke for the first time since they entered the room. He was looking at his two friends.

"RONALD WEASLEY" screamed Molly. "You are betraying your family. How dare you! "

"I am not." said Ron. He looked frightened but determined. "I just won't let my family blind me. I know Hermione, she would never attack someone when she is not forced to."

Hermione wanted to hug her friend for his bravery, but given the situation, she just gave him a thankful look. Molly on the other hand, looked like she was ready to kill her son.

"None of you are leaving" said Sirius, who till know only watched the display.

"SHE-"

"No Molly, Hermione is staying." said Sirius calmly. "Do I have to remind you that this is my house. She will stay here as long as she wants. If you have a problem with her, then you are free to leave, I won't stop you."

Molly gave him a sharp look but she couldn't say anything.

"Come here Ginny, you can stay in one of the other rooms tonight." She said and hugged her crying daughter. "Any objections Black?"

After Sirius shrugged, Molly took her daughter and left. But not before glaring at everyone in the room.

"Mum is going to kill me" said Ron after a long silence.

"Definitely" said Sirius. "That was fun"

"Fun? How can you say that it was fun?" asked Hermione.

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy saying those things to Molly and Ginny" said Sirius. Hermione blushed a little and smiled.

"Maybe a little" she said finally. Sirius laughed.

"Are you okay Hermione?" asked Harry.

"I am fine. Thanks for protecting me Harry" she said hugging him.

"Always" said Harry once again. Hermione couldn't stop herself this time and kissed him. They continued kissing until both Ron and Sirius started coughing.

"Well, I do need time to get used to this" said Sirius smirking.

"I agree" said Ron.

"Thanks for standing up for me Ron" said Hermione to her friend and hugged him.

"No problem." said Ron shyly. "I know Ginny. She acts always crazy when it comes to Harry."

"She is not crazy" said Hermione. "She has just a few problems and needs help."

"If she ever attacks you again, she will have more problems than that" said Harry angrily. Hermione gave him another kiss and he immediately calmed down.

"Well, we should sleep now" said Sirius. "After what happened here, tomorrow will be a long day. Molly won't let this matter end easily."

The other three nodded and the boys slowly left the room. That is, after Harry kissed his girlfriend one more time.

XxXxXxXxX

Next day, Harry awoke earlier than usual. Surprisingly, he didn't feel sleepy or tired. It was still too early and he knew everyone else were sleeping so he kept laying in his bed and thinking about everything that happened since his arriving.

It was a happy day for Harry. Yes, he did learn that Dumbledore was not to be trusted fully but he had a girlfriend now. Yes, he was really angry towards the only mother figure in his life, but the girlfriend he had was Hermione. Yes, he got attacked by death eaters, but Hermione said that she loved him. Overall, Harry thought it was a really happy day.

He loved Hermione for quiet some time now. He himself didn't know when he started loving his best friend romantically. Considering his early life, Harry never knew what love really is. He always wanted to be loved and love someone. Maybe he loved Hermione since he first saw her but didn't notice it. He just knew that he loved him now. He felt happier than he ever did when she smiled. He felt that he could kill himself without hesitation, if that was what she wanted. He could forgive anyone that hurt him but he felt that he could never forgive someone that hurt Hermione.

A light knock at his door pulled him out his thoughts.

"Harry?" came Hermione's whisper from outside. Harry felt joy filling his insides. "Are you awake?"

"Yes" answered Harry, not bothering to keep his voice love. He knew that they need to be louder more than that to wake Ron up.

"I am going to train a little" said Hermione. "Would you like to join me?"

"Of course" said Harry. "Let me just dress up quickly."

He quickly pulled his shirt and pants on and left to room to meet his girlfriend.

"That was quick" commented Hermione grinning. She too, sparkled with joy. "Good morning love"

"That it is" answered Harry. Hermione gave him a peck on his lips, then took his hand and started pulling him.

"Let's go" said Hermione enthusiastically.

"Where are we going to train?" asked Harry smiling.

"Oh, Sirius found a secret room. It is perfect for training. You will love it" said Hermione quickly.

"Mione- didn't you say that we were going to work out?"

"Yes, I did." answered Hermione distractedly. She continued pulling him. Harry was surprised how strong she was or she has gotten.

"Are you going to train in your robes?" asked Harry.

"I have my training outfit under my robes Harry" answered Hermione grinning. "I don't want anyone else to see me in those clothes. The twins were bad enough."

They kept walking until they reached a wall. Harry looked at her questioningly but Hermione just kept grinning. She knocked at the wall three times. Suddenly a door handle grew on the wall.

They entered a nice room. It didn't have the dark nature that was in the rest of the house. There were books all around the room. Some training dummies were lying around and there was a comfortable looking couch. Other than that, the room was pretty much empty.

"What is this room?" asked Harry.

"Sirius found it." answered Hermione. "I don't know for what it was used before, but Sirius found it empty. I brought some books from Black Library and Sirius found me some training dummies for spell casting and accuracy." said Hermione casually. Then she suddenly looked nervous. "Do you like it?"

"It is perfect for training" said Harry honestly. Hermione beamed at him.

"Good. Wait a second, I have to take out that robe, then we can start" said Hermione. Before, Harry was surprised to see her unwillingness to let herself seen with her training outfit. But as she pulled out her robe, he understood and was happy about it.

Harry stared at his girlfriend openmouthed. He never had much idea about clothes, only thing he knew was that she looked amazing. He now knew what Fred meant when he said about Hermione's sexy training outfit. Her training really agreed with her body, she really had a perfect figure. She did develop in all the right places and Harry could only stare at her. He kept staring for a whole minute and he finally came back to real world when he heard Hermione's giggling.

"Am I right to assume that you like what you see?" she asked happily. Harry was relived to see that she was still smiling.

"Wow" was the only thing he was able to say. Hermione giggled again. It was music to Harry's ears.

"As much as I am happy to see that you appreciate my body, we should start now. You will have enough time to stare later." said Hermione. This only made Harry gawk even more, making her laugh harder.

After five minutes and lots of kissing, Harry finally calmed down enough to start with training.

"We have to warm up a little at first" said Hermione. Harry just nodded and they just run around the room for a while and made some stretching –which resulted with another shortcut in Harry's brain-

"Hermione?" said Harry after a while.

"Yes Harry"

"Why are we working out? Don't think that I am complaining but we usually just use spells and-" he stopped, not knowing what to say. Hermione sighed.

"It was actually my fathers idea" she started. "I told them everything about Voldemort and his resurrection. They wanted me to take out from Hogwarts at first but I told them that I belonged to this world and that knowing how to protect myself would be good. They were not happy of course but they accepted it. Then my father asked me how wizards and witches are fighting. I told them everything about dueling and dark curses. He said that it was stupid that we couldn't use some curses because they were labeled dark but our enemies could. I also told him about curses that can't be blocked and he then said that the best way to avoid a bullet was not to be there and the same could work with spells."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"There are curses that can't be stopped with a shield, no matter how strong it is" answered Hermione. "You saw in our fight with Malfoy right? We were surprised that he couldn't hit us with a single spell. The problem is, if he managed to hit us with one curse it would be over. He used dark curses that were really hard to block and mostly lethal. We only survived that encounter because we dodged his spells and he didn't dodge ours."

"I think I understand what you mean." said Harry. "So you say if we can dodge then we would have an advantage over Death Eaters?"

"Purebloods are mostly lazy, even the ones that are not prejudiced like Weasleys." answered Hermione. "What I am saying is, an Expelliarmus that hits the enemy is more powerful than a missing Avada Kedavra."

"You are just brilliant Mione." said Harry.

"It was dads idea, not mine" answered Hermione blushing. "Would you like me to give you a demonstration?

"How?"

"I will throw stinging hexes at you while you try to dodge them. If I hit you then it is over. Let's see how long you will last."

And they did what she said. Harry always thought that he was pretty agile but after five tries, he still couldn't dodge longer than twenty seconds, even thought Hermione wasn't really trying. He was out of breath afterwards.

"Now your turn" said Hermione. Harry nodded and started shooting stinging hexes at her. It took him two whole minutes before he finally hit Hermione on her leg.

"Now do you see what I mean?" asked Hermione, who was barely tired.

"You are amazing. I never thought I was this bad" said Harry shaking his head.

"You are not bad" argued Hermione. "You are agile and you have pretty good accuracy considering that you didn't have any training. We will make up for it, don't worry. Let's work on your accuracy a little"

For the next hour, Hermione trained Harry on it. She was already pretty good at it so for that day, she only helped Harry.

After about an hour, the door opened and a read head poked his head.

"Hermione, are you here?" asked Ron. "There you guys are."

"What is it Ron?" asked Harry. He didn't like the look that Ron gave to Hermione.

"Dumbledore wants to talk with Hermione in private" answered Ron, who was a little red on the face. "He is waiting downstairs."

"Tell him that I'll be there in five minutes" answered Hermione. Ron nodded and after seeing Harry's glare, quickly left the room.

"So Ron knows about this room" asked Harry, trying to hide his annoyance.

"Yes, I even invited him to train with me but he was too lazy" said Hermione. "Only he, the twins and Sirius know about it."

"Oh, okay. Let's go downstairs" said Harry.

"Is something wrong love?" asked Hermione.

"No" answered Harry, avoiding her eyes.

"You do know that I wasn't going to wear these clothes if Ron ever joined me, don't you?" asked Hermione smiling. Harry smiled.

"Am I that easy to read?" he asked.

"I do have lots of practice" murmured Hermione and put her arms around his neck and started kissing him. They only stopped after the need for air got too much.

"Let's go, I want to know what Dumbledore wants" said Hermione. After Hermione pulled her robe on, they left the room. They both changed in their rooms then met outside again.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to come with you love?" asked Harry. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Harry I am sure. He wanted to talk to me in private." She said patiently.

"I could insist to be there" said Harry hopefully.

"No, you shouldn't go on Dumbledore's bad side so soon" said Hermione firmly.

"Okay, fine. But if he tries to force you to anything, just call to me, I'll come immediately." said Harry. "Promise me to be careful"

"Harry, he may be manipulative but Dumbledore is not Voldemort. Why would he try to hurt me?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling. Just promise me" said Harry. Hermione smiled at his concern.

"I'll do my best love" she said and entered the room where Dumbledore was waiting for her.

No matter what she said, Harry was still nervous.

"Don't worry Harry, nothing will happen to her" said Fred. "Do you want to play exploding snap to keep yourself busy? Listening to the room is meaningless. Dumbledore would definitely put privacy charms."

"Fine" said Harry. They started playing but Harry's mind was searching desperately for something that was not concern for his girlfriend.

"Where is Ron?" asked Harry finally.

"He is still working. Mum is trying to kill him and make it look like an accident" grinned George.

"Mum wanted to punish Ron for what he did yesterday" said Fred. "But dad said that what he did was right and that he was proud of Ron. That made it hard for her to punish him so she started giving Ron every bit of work in the house as revenge. I think she is avoiding you and Hermione."

"Possible" said Harry simply.

They played for ten minutes before it got clear that Harry couldn't concentrate. He started pacing the room and it was another ten minutes later when Hermione finally entered the room. She looked furious.

"Are you okay love?" asked Harry with concern.

"That manipulative, senile old bastard. How dare he even say that" grumbled Hermione.

"What did he want?" asked Harry. "Was it about Ginny?"

"No" said Hermione. "He wanted to talk to me about my relationship with you"

"Why is it his business?" asked Harry angrily.

"This is what I told him" answered Hermione. "He ignored it. He said that I was endangering your life and that I have to break up with you."

_That was chapter 4. I hope you liked it. Molly or Ginny are not done yet and will be active in the next chapters. Ron is a mystery for now. Don't forget that he does have a crush on Hermione in this story._

_Dumbledore is still avoiding Harry just like in original OotP, this is why he talked with Hermione. _

_Please review, every comment would help. Thank you for reading._


	5. Chapter 5: Horcruxes

**_A/N: I want to thank everyone that left a comment to this story. I am doing my best so if you don't like it, you don't have to read it. That being said, I am really happy about the response to this story. You guys are the best._**

**_Not much action in this chapter, but I think it is still good. There are a few things that will be explained later, so don't worry about it._**

**_I don't own anything besides the plot._**

**CHAPTER 5: Horcruxes**

"WHAT?" screamed Harry angrily. Hermione glared at him.

"Stop screaming Harry. We have to speak in private. Now" she said firmly. Harry nodded.

"Sorry guys, but this is personal." said Hermione to the twins.

"No problem milady" said George, bowing to her. "We respect your need for privacy."

"Besides, we really have to go and tease Ron about his duties. Don't mind us" said Fred and winked at them.

Hermione smiled at them and pulled Harry quickly to her room.

"What areyou-?" started Harry but Hermione cut him off.

"Please wait a second" she said and started casting some privacy charms around them. "I don't really know much privacy charms but I think they will hold."

She sat on her bed and patted next to her, inviting Harry to sit beside her. Harry sat down and hugged her.

"Now tell me everything. What did that bastard really want?" asked Harry softly. Much to his horror, tears started forming in her eyes.

"He said that he was disappointed in me" said Hermione in a broken voice. "That I was endangering your life by being with you."

"This is crap" said Harry forcefully. "How can you even endanger my life?"

"He said Voldemort could use me to hurt you" answered Hermione. "That I was being irresponsible and I should break up with you. If I don't, he says that I would hurt you sooner or later. Then the whole wizarding world would pay for it."

She hugged him tighter and kept crying. Harry just held her, knowing she needed this. He was filled with hate towards the ancient headmaster.

"Now listen to me Hermione" started Harry softly. "First, only an idiot would ever say that you are irresponsible. Second, nothing can hurt me more than seeing you hurt but that just means that I will protect you with everything I have. Nothing will happen to you. Nothing will happen to us. I will make sure of that."

"Promise me Harry" said Hermione suddenly. "Promise me that you will be careful and to never leave me behind."

"I promise love. We will be together, no matter what happens" said Harry smiling, but Hermione wasn't finished yet.

"And promise me one more thing. If anything happens to me, then you won't hurt yourself, you will keep living and you will be happy" said Hermione. Harry looked at her with obvious shock.

"I can't do that" he said finally.

"Do it Harry. If you don't want me to feel guilty then promise me this. I can't live, knowing I could hurt you" said Hermione forcefully and looked him in the eyes.

"I- I can't" said Harry.

"Harry-"

"Please understand Hermione. I can't imagine a life without you. Don't expect me to be happy. Even if you would break up with me, I would protect you with my life. I need you to be happy. I need you Hermione, no matter what Albus Bloody Dumbledore says."

Hermione looked him in the eyes. There was determination on those emerald green eyes. She felt herself getting lost in those eyes once again. Slowly, their lips met and they started kissing. Hermione's arms were still around Harry. Harry's left arm was around her waist, while his right hand found her hair. They kept kissing with more passion than they ever did, they get rid of the venom that was lurking in them. They forgot their fears and their anger. Their minds were only on each other, nothing else mattered for them. Finally they separated because of their need for oxygen. Once again, they looked in each others eyes, both slightly out of breath.

"I'll be always there for you" they said at the same time. That was a promise for life time and they both knew it. They sat like that for a few minutes, enjoying each others company. Finally, Hermione spoke up.

"You know Harry, if we are going to get our happily ever after, then we have to get rid of Voldemort" she said thoughtfully. Harry sighed.

"I know. We can't live if we have to look over our shoulders to make sure that he is not there" said Harry.

"I agree, we must do something" said Hermione.  
"It can't be that hard" said Harry, trying to lighten the mood. "It is not like he is immortal." His eyes widened at the skeptical look on his girlfriends face. "What?"

"Well, I actually did some research about it" answered Hermione.

"What? Don't tell me that he actually is immortal" said Harry.

"Not really. I mean, I don't think it is called being immortal. Because he **can **be killed, so immortality is not the right word for it. Of course, it can be wrong. It is just a speculation but I couldn't find any other explanation for it-"

"Hermione" Harry cut her off. "Can you please tell me what you are talking about?"

"I am sorry" she said blushing. "I wanted to talk to you and Sirius about it but I have to ask something else first. Have you ever heard of Occlumency?"

Harry shook his head.

"I'll try to explain. There is a way how to see in to someone's mind by looking in to his or her eyes. You can see their memories and their thoughts with it. It is called Legilimency."

She paused, knowing that Harry would want to think about it. Just as she thought, Harry frowned.

"Do you need any incantations or wand movements for this Legilimency?" asked Harry. Hermione knew what he was thinking and answered truthfully.

"There are two different kinds of Legilimency. Active and passive. Active Legilimency requires incantation and a wand if you are not a nonverbal wandless magic user of course. But passive Legilimency doesn't require any of this, but it is much weaker."

"So people around us are just reading or minds and we don't even know" said Harry angrily. He wasn't thinking about Voldemort. He was thinking about Snape and Dumbledore. He felt another wave of anger towards the headmaster.

"Well, while Legilimency is not really an easy discipline to master, it is certainly possible." answered Hermione. "This brings us to Occlumency. With this, you can protect your mind against assaults from outside."

"How does it work?" asked Harry, truly interested. Hermione went to her trunk and took out a black, old looking book.

"I have been working on it for a while now" she said and showed him the book. It didn't have any title or a writer written on it.

"Where did you find this?" asked Harry.

"In the Black Library" she answered. "I already finished it. If you really want, you could read it. It is really helpful." She suddenly looked unsure. "I know you don't like reading much but I think it could help."

"Of course I will read it" said Harry enthusiastically. He saw the sparkle in her eyes and suddenly felt guilty. For the first time, he noticed that his and Ron's disinterest towards books actually hurt Hermione. She enjoyed talking about books but because they didn't like it, she always got nervous while talking about a book.

"I am sorry for my lack of interest before Hermione. Should I confess something? Before I came to Hogwarts, I actually enjoyed reading"

"But-" started a confused Hermione.

"I know that I wasn't acting like that. Before Hogwarts. I didn't have any friends. I often went to library in the city to spend my time. You have to understand that Ron was my first friend, besides Hagrid of course. I was trying to be accepted and I didn't want to blend out. It is stupid I know, but I started acting like him more and more. Don't get me wrong, Ron is a great friend but he was not really my best influence."

Hermione smiled at his discomfort. She was filled with joy at his revelation.

"Well, it is never late to catch up on it" she said and gave him the book. With a mock grimace, Harry accepted it.

"You are sure that it won't hurt me" said Harry innocently.

"What? Occlumency?" asked a confused Hermione.

"No, reading." answered Harry teasingly. Hermione hit him on the arm playfully. "I am just kidding Mione. I promise, I will try to read more and work harder than before."

"Good" said Hermione but Harry wasn't finished.

"But in return, you will promise me to not work yourself to hard and spend time enjoying yourself. I am serious Hermione, you need to relax."

Hermione knew he was saying it because of his concern for her and not because he was annoyed of her habits. She smiled at is concern.

"Fine, I will do my best. But it depends on who my company is" said Hermione grinning.

"Is the boy who lived good enough for you" asked Harry.

"I don't know. But Harry Potter definitely is" answered Hermione and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Now let me explain it a bit. Occlumency has two phases. At phase one, you have to organize your thoughts. You have to have control over your mind and for this, you have to organize it. Afterwards, you will start building walls around your mind to protect it."

"Can you already do that?" asked Harry.

"As I said, I trained a bit with Sirius. I can do it, but it is still weak. It is enough to stop a passive attack but it can't stand a full assault for now."

"How long does it take?" asked Harry.

"First phase takes normally around one month if you practice each night. But I think you don't have to worry about it."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"Occlumency is not magic Harry. Even muggles can do it if they work on it. Some people have control over their thoughts without noticing it. Because of this, it took me only a few days. I suspect that it will be the case for you too."

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, first, you were able throw of Imperius Curse. It requires a strong mental discipline, just like Occlumency."

"That can be true. Everytime someone used Imperius on me, I was able to feel my thoughts. I could see them and I heard my own thoughts screaming at me. But how can we be sure?"

"Let's go find Sirius, he can help us. Afterwards, I have to talk to two of you about something important. We can talk in the Black Library."

XxXxXxXxXxX

The Black Library was as big as Hogwarts library itself, but without any pun, the darkest Library Harry ever saw. It made the restricted section In Hogwarts Library look neat in comparison. Even looking at some of the books in there made Harry feel sick, he couldn't imagine reading any of them any time soon.

"Nice isn't it?" asked Sirius with distaste. "I still don't know how you can stand those books Hermione."

The witch in question just shrugged. It was obvious that even she didn't like this place very much. They sat down around a small table.

"So what do you two wanted to ask me?" asked Sirius. "If you want relationship advice, I have to warn you that I didn't have a healthy relationship lately, besides a few adorable dementors."

"Can you put privacy charms around us?" asked Hermione.

"No need for it. This place has its own protection. No one can hear anything from outside" said Sirius.

"Fine, you know that I was training on Occlumency right? We want for Harry to learn it as well, could you please test him?"

"Do you think he is naturely talented like you?" asked Sirius.

"Yes. It is sort of a protection by children who grew up lonely. They start to isolate themselves from outside. As a result they have much more time to think and they begin to discipline their minds, some even start building a few walls."

"Okay. Let's get this over with. Are you ready pup?" asked Sirius.

"I am not sure if I want Sirius in my mind Hermione. Are you sure that you can't do it yourself" said Harry hesitantly.

"I am hurt pup" said Sirius with a fake grimace. "Don't you trust your beloved godfather?"

"Not with potential teasing material" answered Harry.

"Don't worry, I am really bad at this. I only know the basics, so I could only see a few snogging between you two, not more" said Sirius grinning. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry love, if I notice that he is looking at something that you don't want him to then he will regret it" said Hermione with an evil smile, holding her wand threatiningly. Sirius gulped.

"Okay, at three. One- Two- Three_- Legilimence_"

Harry felt his godfathers presence in his mind. It was disturbing. Harry desperately tried to throw him out but he couldn't. Images started to come in front of his eyes but before he could see what they are, it stopped.

Hermione summoned a glass water and gave it to Harry. He noticed that he was sweating like he run for miles.

"And?" asked Hermione to Sirius.

"You were right." answered Sirius. He also looked a bit tired. "His mind is different than yours but it does have an organization."

"Good, that makes things simpler. Any walls?" she asked.

"There were some blocks around but nothing stable" answered Sirius. She nodded.

"Okay, until you finish training, you just have to avoid looking at suspicious peoples eyes, like Dumbledore." she said to Harry.

"And Snape" said Sirius. "He is a master in this discipline, you should be careful around him."

"I thought so" answered Harry. "Now Hermione, what was the other thing you wanted to talk about."

"Okay, but this is important. I need your advice about something" said Hermione. "You have to promise me to keep it a secret."

After they promised it, Hermione stood up and went to one of the shelves. She looked around for a while and finally came back with a book in her hand.

"As I said, I started to make some research about Voldemort. There are a lot of unanswered questions about him. I started with the obvious one: How did he survive that night after attacking Harry."

"No one knows it right?" said Sirius. "I mean, you can't find something like this in a book."

"Oh, I did find an answer, but let me finish. As you said, no one knows it so I thought that I need clues to find it. Clues that are not available to others who might have looked for it. Like a best friend that met him three times."

Harry's and Sirius's eyes widened at this but they stayed silent.

"Just like I said, there are a lot of questions about Voldemort. I thought that they had to be connected somehow. So I found the second similar question: How could a simple diary have someones soul inside?"

"Riddle's diary?" asked Harry.

"Exactly. I was sure it was dark magic and I thought I could find it in a dark family Library like Black's. No offense Sirius."

"Non taken. I would have said worse" said Sirius shrugging. "And, did you find it?"

"I did find something" she said hesitantly and showed them the book.

"_Secrets of the Darkest Arts? _Why would you even read such a book Hermione" said Sirius in a terrified voice.

"Come on, this book just screams Voldemort's name" said Hermione quickly. Then she hesitated again and looked with distaste in her eyes. "Now I will ask something really important. Have any of you ever heard of a Horcrux?"

Harry shook his head but Sirius's eyes flashed with anger. His face suddenly turned dark and he looked more like the escaped criminal than ever.

"You mean he made a Horcrux" he hissed with pure disgust in his voice.

"What is a Horcrux?" asked Harry. Hermione opened her mouth to answer but Sirius beat her to it.

"The darkest form of magic" hissed Sirius. "The horcrux user tears a part of his soul and puts it in another object with a dark ritual. As long as the soul part is anchored to the world, the user cannot die."

"How can he tear his soul" asked Harry, feeling sick. Sirius and Hermione looked at each other.

"Murder" answered Sirius finally. "The user has to kill someone. Killing someone with full intent tears the soul. With that ritual, a person turns it into advantage and makes a horcrux." He turned to Hermione. "So you think he really made one?"

"Probably" answered Hermione.

"I should have never allowed you to enter this library" said Sirius suddenly. "This is not a place for a child."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"I am not a child and neither is Harry." said Hermione. "We are old enough to die, so we have to be old enough to fight back. Will you help us or do I have to go to someone else?"

Sirius glared at her for awhile. Hermione didn't budge and glared back. Finally, Sirius gave in.

"Sometimes, you remind me too much of Lily" he said. "You are too stubborn."

"Thank you" said Hermione smiling.

"Back to topic, how do you know about those Horcruxe's Sirius?" asked Harry. Sirius laughed humorlessly.

"I am a member of Ancient and Noble House of Black Harry" said Sirius, with distaste in his voice. "We talked about such magic at breakfast."

"That bad huh?" said Harry sympathetically.

"You have no idea" answered Sirius darkly.

"So let me get this straight." said Harry to Hermione. "You say Voldemort survived the killing curse because he made a Horcrux."

Hermione nodded.

"But I destroyed Tom Riddle's diary" said Harry. "How can he be still alive?"

"There are only a few things that could destroy a Horcrux Harry" answered Sirius. "And they are all really rare."

"But Basilisk venom is one of them" disagreed Hermione. "And luckily, that is what Harry used."

"WHAT?" screamed Sirius. "What the bloody hell are you doing in that damn school?"

"Long story" said Harry shrugging. "Then how did he survive?"

"Good question Harry, this is why I wanted to talk to you about. When a Horcrux is destroyed, the user becomes mortal again. That Voldemort survived it without a body can only mean one thing."

"You don't mean that he made more than one do you?" asked a horrified Sirius.

"Is it possible?" asked Hermione looking at him.

"There was a wizard" said Sirius. "He made two Horcruxes but besides that, no one ever tried to make more than one."

"But it is possible" argued Harry. "And it is the best explanation we have."

"So you think he made two Horcruxes?" asked Sirius.

"I don't know Sirius. I don't think he made two horcruxes, I think he made **at least** two horcruxes." said Hermione.

Sirius's eyes widened at her implication. He was too shocked to talk, knowing what kind of horror it is.

"Sirius said no one ever made more than two" said Harry grimacing.

"Yes, but we are talking about Voldemort. The same guy that changed his name because it was too ordinary. Don't you think he would try to do what others couldn't?"

"We have no proof about that" said Sirius, who finally found his voice. This was just too much. But Harry's eyes suddenly widened with realization.

"Wait a second, Voldemort said something about this in the graveyard." He said excitedly.

"What?" asked both Hermione and Sirius in unison.

"_I, who have gone further than anybody else along the path of immortality_" repeated Harry Voldemort's words. He had still nightmares of that night so he could remember clearly his words. "That is what he said that night."

"This is it" said Hermione excitedly. "He must be talking about his Horcruxes."

Sirius wasn't sharing her excitement.

"So if we assume you are right, than we have a dark wizard that made three horcruxes" said Sirius.

"At least" repeated Hermione. "Also, one of them is already destroyed."

"Doesn't Dumbledore know about this?" asked Harry. "I gave him the diary, he must have recognized it."

"I think he knows it Harry" she said angrily. "It is just another example of his endless secret keeping."

"This is stupid" growled Harry. "I had to fight against that thing. Weasleys nearly lost their daughter to it and he still didn't say anything to any of us."

"That manipulative old bastard" said Sirius.

"I agree" nodded Hermione. "I also think that he may know more than we do about this topic. It is a wonder he never took out this book out of your library Sirius."

"Oh, it is no wonder Hermione" said Sirius with an evil grin. "He didn't take this book out of the library, because he couldn't."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"This library is protected with ancient wards. No one can enter this place without the permission of a Black." said Sirius. "You had my permission Hermione and Harry doesn't need it because I left everything to him with a legal will, so the house recognizes him as its master. He can't allow anyone to enter though as long as I am alive"*

"Who has permission to enter this place?" asked Harry.

"Besides you, only Remus can come here" answered the marauder.

"Why did you allow me then?" asked Hermione.

"Because I trust you" said Sirius shrugging. Hermione's eyes filled with tears and she hugged him. Sirius awkwardly patted her back. "Well, you did start reading dark magic books here, but I think I can trust you not to be the next Dark Lady"

"Very funny." said Hermione. "What now?"

"I think we have a confrontation with a certain ancient headmaster" said Sirius evilly. "And he better answer truthfully."

The younger ones both saw the glint in Padfoots eyes and they knew it meant something bad. But hey were okay with it as long as it was for Albus Bloody Dumbledore.

*****_I have to explain that part. I made a connection with the canon at that part. In canon, Hermione assumed that Dumbledore took these books out of Hogwarts Library. But it was only a speculation so I changed it. My explanation is like this: Dumbledore couldn't take those books out of Black Library because he didn't have any access. After Sirius died, he went to Dursleys and told Harry that Sirius left everything to Harry and asked for his permission for Grimmauld Place. Harry said that they could do whatever they wanted with it and this granted Albus access to the library. He took those books out and hid them in his office._

_I could hardly explain it in the story itself, because things won't happen like in cannon after this. So I thought I should explain it now._

_Not much happened in this chapter but I hope you still liked it. Some may say that they found too easy about the Horcruxes but I tried to make it as logical as possible. This is a necessary step. Next chapter, Dumbledore will have to do what he hates most: Giving answers._

_Please Review. Thanks for reading. I will try to update in a few days._


	6. Chapter 6: Answer our questions Albus

_I am really happy with the response to this story. This chapter took me longer than I expected. It may have some mistakes, I will try to correct them soon. I am not really satisfied with this chapter but I hope you will still like it.  
_

_I disclaim everything besides the plot. _

**CHAPTER 6: Answer our questions Albus**

After their talk about the Horcruxes, Sirius sent an owl to Dumbledore, requesting to meet with him. They decided not to use the floo in order to avoid unnecessary questions from other order members. It was a short letter but it wasn't easy to write. They had to avoid mentioning anything important, in case someone else got hold of the letter. They also had to show that it was important to make Dumbledore take it seriously. They finally settled on a really short note.

_Albus,_

_I have important matters that I have to discuss with you as soon as possible. Please come soon. It is about a certain nose missing individual. I have reasons to believe that our friend caused a few new problems._

_Padfoot_

The part about "The nose missing individual" was of course Padfoot's idea. Hermione was against it at first but finally relented to his begging.

XxXxXxXxX

Albus Dumbledore wasn't happy. He was sitting in his office, trying to formulate a plan.

He knew that his talk with Miss Granger didn't go very well. He hoped to use her desire to protect Harry for his advantage. The witch in question was pretty clear on her answer. He was sure that he managed to plant some doubt in her mind, but he doubted that she would cooperate with him willingly.

He was unlucky. The timing was simply bad. If he could just talk with Harry, he was sure he could have convinced the young lad. The boy had a hero complex after all. It would be easy to use it against him. He would just have to make him clear that he was risking Miss Granger's life but it wasn't meant to be. He couldn't talk with Harry in private until he found a way to protect his secrets from his connection with Riddle.

A loud noise came from his window, interrupting his thoughts. It was the owl that he left in Grimmauld Place, after much insisting of Sirius. He took the letter from the brown owl.

He frowned after reading it. He had to go and talk to him in person. Sirius couldn't leave the headquarters, so he probably found something in his library. Knowing Sirius's hate towards dark magic, he probably didn't read anything important but he had to make sure. There were secrets that were too much for anyone else. Secrets, that should only be available to Albus Dumbledore.

XxXxXxXxX

Because they didn't have anything else to do, Harry and Hermione went back to their new training room.

Hermione decided to teach Harry a few spells that she found useful. After a few hours of training –with lots of kissing in between- they finally sat down, both slightly out of breath.

"Good work Harry, you are learning fast" said Hermione proudly. They sat on the only couch in the room, while holding each others hands.

"Thanks" said Harry. "But I am really tired."

"Our magical core is exhausted" answered Hermione. "We both need to rest. We probably overdid it a bit. Actually, we shouldn't be able to keep casting spells for so long in our age."

Harry could see that she was deep in thoughts. He could practically see the wheels in her head turning in high speed.

"What do you mean with magical core?" he asked. She looked at him and quickly changed to her lecture mode, much to Harry's amusement.

"Every wizard and witch has a magical core. It determines the power of the said person. Muggles and Squibs have none while magicals have all a different core. It also depends on age. If you get older, your core gets larger and you can use stronger spells easier and last longer than before. The growth stops more or less when you reach adulthood and remains the same until you are older. Afterwards, it starts getting smaller again."

"Then why is Dumbledore still strong?" asked Harry.

"Well, I am not sure" she answered thoughtfully. "I heard that there are potions and a few rituals that could manipulate the magical core. Or maybe, he really is weaker and he was even stronger when he was younger."

Harry grimaced. He was not really a big fan of the headmaster at the moment.

"I read in a book about the ordinary state of a magical core in our age" continued Hermione. "It is strange, we shouldn't be able to last nearly as long as we did according to that book."

"Does that mean that we are stronger than the others?" asked Harry hopefully. After all, there was an overpowered Dark Lord he had to deal with. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It is more complicated than that but yes, it is probably true." She still looked skeptical and bit her lip. "I should probably look for it later."

"Don't do that?" said Harry suddenly.

"What?"

"Don't bite your lip while talking about something important" said Harry accusingly. "You have no idea how sexy you look while doing it. I can't concentrate. I just have to kiss you when you do it."

"Sorry about that" she said with an evil glint in her eyes and continued chewing on her lip.

"This is just unfair" complained Harry.

Hermione looked at him seductively and came closer.

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently. "Does it bother you?"

"You are just evil" said Harry smiling. He too came closer. But their moment was interrupted when the door swung open.

"Guys, Dumbledore is here-" said Sirius, but then saw their position. He smirked. "Did I interrupt something?"

They both went red and glared at him. Then Hermione smiled.

"You would have interrupted much more if you came a few minutes later" said Hermione seriously. Sirius's eyes went wide. He stared at them with shock in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could, they both burst out laughing.

"You should have seen the look on your face" said Harry laughing. Sirius still looked skeptical.

"Do I have to worry about it?" he asked only half joking.

"Of course not" said Hermione. "I know lots of locking charms if we would really need them."

This caused both to laugh even more.

"Okay, we seriously have to talk about this-" started Sirius but Harry interrupted him.

"Didn't you say that Dumbledore is here?" he asked. "Let's go."

They stood up and left the room quickly. Sirius sighed and followed them.

XxXxXxXxX

Dumbledore had too many questions. He was getting impatient. He hated waiting for answers.

For one thing, he didn't know anything about this room. He used this place as headquarters but he never saw this room before. He was going to insist to Sirius to tell him everything about this place. Including that damned library that he didn't let him see.

He also didn't know what Sirius wanted to talk about. He was suspecting that he found something in Black Library more and more, but he couldn't be sure. He still didn't believe that Sirius would just read books about dark magic. Because of his family, he hated everything about it. It was also unlikely that he would let anyone else enter the library. If he didn't let him then logically he also wouldn't let anyone else enter it. Maybe Harry, but he also wouldn't spend time reading about dark magic.

He didn't even know where Sirius went. He just told him to wait here and left. He hated not being informed about something.

His last question was answered when the door opened. Sirius entered the room, alongside Harry and Hermione.

He sighed. They actually tricked him. This has just gotten much more complicated. He just hoped that he didn't have to tell them any secrets.

XxXxXxXxX

As they greeted and sat on a couch opposite him, Harry looked at the headmaster with suspicion in his eyes. Dumbledore looked a little uncomfortable and he was looking at Hermione. She on the other hand was looking a little above his head. Not too far to make it obvious but still enough to avoid eye contact.

"Good day Harry. Miss Granger" said Dumbledore, with a hint of curiosity in his voice. "I am surprised that you joined us. It seems like Sirius forgot to mention it."

"Are you sure? I was sure I mentioned it on the letter" said Sirius. Harry barely contained his grin.

"Very well. Why did you wanted to meet me?" asked Dumbledore. He wanted to take control over the conversation but it was hard considering that he had no idea what they wanted to talk about.

"It is about Voldemort" said Hermione coming straight to point. "I think we found a few things about him and we thought that you should to know it."

Hermione barely contained her grin when she saw the smile on his face. They all knew that Dumbledore already knew about it, but they wanted to know how much he would reveal to them. She looked at Sirius and he nodded.

"Did you know anything about Horcruxes Albus?" he asked.

To say that Dumbledore was surprised was the understatement of century. He opened his mouth to say something but closed a few moments later. His mind was working quickly, trying to formulate how to respond to this.

"Why are you asking this?" he said finally, answering them with another question.

"I read it in a book that Harry gave me" answered Hermione. "We have already a basic idea what it is, but it was only shortly mentioned. Do you know anything about Horcruxes?"

Dumbledore tried to look her in the eyes but once again, she wasn't directly looking at him. It was obvious that Harry had access to Black Library and that he gave one of the books to Miss Granger. There was no way they could find anything about Horcruxes in another place. If he didn't answer now, she would probably try to find more about it and if she looked at the right place, she would find it, making everything even more complicated.

Harry noticed that Dumbledore was trying to formulate a plan and quickly interrupted his train of thoughts.

"We know that it is a ritual and has something to do with the soul. We also know that it has something to do with immortality. Can you tell us more?"

Dumbledore was in turmoil now. He couldn't tell them about Horcruxes, especially to Harry. He couldn't also leave the matter as it is. It was obvious that they suspected that Voldemort made one. If they made the connection between it and Riddle's diary, it would be a disaster.

Hermione saw the hint of panic in Dumbledore's eyes and decided to try a different approach.

"Professor Dumbledore" she started and took a deep breath. "I must insist you tell us now what you know. We already know a few things, I just want you to confirm our suspicions. If you plan to obliviate us, then I should advice you against it. I made notes for myself and only I know where they are. I would once again find out and you wouldn't like the consequences of using mind magic on minors."

Everyone looked at her with obvious surprise. Dumbledore felt his anger rising. How dare she accuse him to something like this. Only his experience helped him to control his voice.

"I am sad that you think I would ever do something like that Miss Granger." he said finally. "There is no reason for you to not trust me."

"It is nothing against you Professor" lied Hermione, while trying to sound respectful. "These are dark times. It is not easy to trust anyone."

Dumbledore nodded unhappily. He really did consider obliviating them. He still didn't like the fact that they would think he would ever do something like this. He needed them to trust him, so obliviating was already out now. Dumbledore was no fool. He knew if it came to it, Harry would always take Miss Granger's word over his. Now only thing that he could do was keeping the damage at minimum.

"What you know is actually correct but incomplete." he started. "Horcruxes are dark magic. After a murder, a dark wizard can seal a part of his soul in another object. As long as that part of his soul exists, the said wizard cannot die."

"Is this what happened with Voldemort?" said Harry following their plan.

"I can only guess but it is possible." answered Dumbledore. "I already suspect that he made one."

"Did you have an idea where that Horcrux is?" asked Sirius.

"Unfortunately, I don't know" answered Dumbledore.

"I read that a Horcrux could influence a person when he or she comes in contact with it" said Hermione. "It reminded me of what happened with Ginny in our second year with that diary. Did you investigate it?"

They saw with satisfaction the flash of anger on Dumbledore's face, basically confirming their suspicions.

"It is interesting that you mention it Miss Granger" said Dumbledore slowly. "Just like you, I also think that it was a Horcrux."

"Why aren't you sure of it sir?" asked Harry.

"Because even if it was a Horcrux before, you already destroyed it Harry. I can't surely say if it was a Horcrux before or not. But it is definitely possible."

"Wait a minute" said Sirius. "If it was really a Horcrux and it is destroyed, how did Voldemort survive afterwards?"

"I am not sure" said Dumbledore once again. This was getting worse than he thought.

"Is it possible to make more than one Horcrux?" asked Harry.

"There was a wizard that made two of them but besides that, no one ever tried to make multiple Horcruxes as far as I know" said Dumbledore uneasily.

"But he must have made more or he wouldn't have survived." said Hermione impatiently. The old headmaster was getting slowly on her nerves with his insistence to keep as much as possible from them.

"It is the best explanation I have at the moment." said Dumbledore. "It is possible that he made two Horcruxes"

"I remember Voldemort saying something about _surpassing everyone on the path of immortality_" said Harry. He was happy to see Dumbledore's eyes widen once again. "Assuming that he knew about that wizard, could it be that he made three Horcruxes?"

Dumbledore didn't know what to say so stayed silent. No matter what he said, it made everything worse.

"Well it is possible" said Hermione, enjoying Dumbledore's struggles. "We can even say that he made **at least** three. Is there anything against this theory Professor?"

"As I said, no one ever made more than two Horcruxes" said Dumbledore once again. Hermione tried to not roll her eyes at Dumbledore's constant play with words.

"But is it possible?" asked Harry. "Can he do it?"  
"There is definitely no evidence that makes it impossible" said Dumbledore, finally giving in. He didn't want to lie to them. If they discovered that he lied, it would become impossible to make them trust him.

"It can be anything right?" asked Harry curiously. "Like empty potion bottles or parchments. How can we find them?"

"I don't think Voldemort would use something useless or unimportant for his soul" said Sirius when Dumbledore didn't answer Harry's question. "He would want to use something worthy. He has a too big of an ego to do anything else."

All color drained of Dumbledore's face. He saw the other two nodding in agreement.

"What do you think Professor?" asked Harry respectfully.

"I also think that Tom would like to use items that has historical importance" said Dumbledore. "I don't know what he used."

"Are you searching for them?" asked Hermione, barely stopping herself from smirking.

"I am doing some research" answered Dumbledore. "I hope to find something soon."

"You would inform us when you find something right?" asked Harry innocently.

"We will see" said Dumbledore and stood up. "If you excuse me, I must go back to school. This was really informative. I must ask you to not tell anyone else about that."

"Professor" said Hermione suddenly.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"You said that you are already searching for Horcruxes and that you hoped to find some clue soon. Does that mean you don't have any idea what they could be?"

Dumbledore really wanted to curse that girl at the moment. Just when he hoped he at least managed to keep one secret.

"I have reasons to believe that he used something that once belonged to Slytherin" said Dumbledore. "If you find any clues, please inform me immediately."

"We will" said Harry reassuringly. "Thank you Professor."

Dumbledore wanted to leave as soon as possible but there was something else he needed to discuss with Harry.

"Harry, you have to take some private lessons with Professor Snape this year" he said quickly. "You have to learn Occlumency."

Harry's eyes widened in shock. He looked helplessly at Hermione.

"It is interesting that you would mention it Professor, I found a book about Occlumency and started practicing it. If he wants, I could give Harry that book so he can practice it."

"It could be helpful" said Dumbledore unhappily. "But you should still take lessons from Severus. He is a master at this discipline."

"With all respect sir, I really don't want to have extra lessons with Snape."

"Professor Snape, Harry" said Dumbledore.

"I will try to learn it till the end of the summer and if you think I still need lessons, then I won't complain about it" said Harry firmly.

Dumbledore thought about it. There was no way Harry could learn it in such a short time without a someone to teach him so he decided to agree with his condition.

"I think it is acceptable" said Dumbledore. "I wish all of you a good day."

With this, he left the room. The other three looked at each other.

"That bastard" said Sirius. "He really didn't make it easy, did he?"

"Do you think we left something out?" asked Harry.

"I don't think so" said Hermione. "I think he said pretty much everything."

"When did you actually made notes Hermione?" asked Harry. Hermione blushed.

"Yes, that was brilliant" said Sirius. "How did you know he would try to obliviate us?"

"I didn't" said Hermione.

"What?" they asked at the same time. She blushed even more.

"Well, he looked much more disturbed than I thought he would" said Hermione. "I was worried that he would do something like this so I lied."

"You mean, you didn't do anything?" asked Harry.

"No, I didn't but I will as soon as possible. I hoped that it would prevent him from doing something like this."

Both Sirius and Harry started laughing loudly.

"Hermione, you are brilliant" said Harry and hugged her.

"This was a prank worthy of a marauder Hermione. You are really starting to become a competition to us." said Sirius laughing. She blushed even more.

"Let's get out of here" said Hermione. "We didn't eat anything since breakfast and I am starving."

The others agreed and followed her out of the room. They were much more carefree than a certain headmaster that left the room before them.

_As I said, not much happened in this chapter. I hope you still liked it. As I said before, English is not my native language, so I can make mistakes sometimes, I apologize for them._

_It was hard to write about Dumbledore. I don't want to portray him as evil because he is not. He does have many flaws but he still is not really evil. He just believes that he knows everything, which leads to his mistakes. You will see more of Dumbledore in next chapter, including his thoughts about this meeting. I think then you will see a few of his real intentions. _

_Please leave a comment it really helps. Thank you for reading._


	7. Chapter 7: Bonds

_A/N: This chapter is a little shorter than I wanted it to be. My computer broke down so I had to write everything from the beginning. It was frustrating. _

_I don't own anything besides the plot._

**Chapter 7: Bonds**

After his less than perfect conversation with the children, Albus Dumbledore arrived in his office. As he sat down on his chair and watched his phoenix Fawkes, he once again wondered how everything could go this wrong. He concluded that all his problems had one name: Hermione Granger.

No one should have known about the Horcruxes. If Voldemort ever found out that he knew about them, it would become impossible to get to those items. He tried everything he could to avoid saying anything to the children. He was no fool. He knew that the whole conversation was arranged by the brown haired witch. But still, he couldn't do anything to keep that information to himself. He was not really the violent type, but he so wished he could just hex that girl for her ignorance.

It couldn't be helped now and the damage was already done. He just had to get the Horcruxes as soon as possible to reach the final phase of his plan. Harry Potter had to die in order to make Voldemort mortal again. He had to be killed by Voldemort himself.

He always knew that Harry Potter had to die to beat Voldemort, even before he found about his other Horcruxes. He had to sacrifice himself willingly and finish that battle. This is why he placed Harry with Dursley's all those years ago. His plan worked perfectly. Because of Dursley's neglect, he started building a self sacrifice tendency which was what Dumbledore needed to use. Harry shouldn't have anyone that really loved him to make him work for acceptance. It did sound a little cruel but it was the only way in Dumbledore's opinion.

His plans took a blow when the boy entered Hogwarts. He hoped to see him lonely besides a few distant friends. The boy really had self-confidence issues and he did avoid the others, but to his dismay, he still managed to make some friends. This could have been problematic. Harry shouldn't have anyone that tied him to this world. Still, he wasn't worried. A few friends wouldn't make that much of a difference. The boy was still shy and he still avoided company of the others, besides his few friends. Yes, they wouldn't make much difference at the end.

But everything started to change last year. After he entered the tournament, Harry started changing. Dumbledore hoped that the neglect he would get from the others would cause Harry even more self esteem issues. He thought that his plans worked, when he saw that one of his best friends left him out of jealousy.

Once again the problem was Miss Granger. She actually believed and even helped him. He didn't think that any of the children would believe Harry and this was another blow to his plans. Still, he wasn't worried.

Then it started. He didn't notice it at first, but Harry was changing. He was slowly coming out of his shell. He grew a backbone and he was becoming less forgiving with time. He started to believe in himself and build confidence with time, all because of that girls support. Dumbledore was really relieved when he saw Ron making up with Harry after the first task. The Weasley boy did support Harry, but he could never do as much damage as Granger. Dumbledore didn't want Harry to be this close to anyone like he was with Hermione Granger. He even took Ronald as his hostage, calling him the most precious thing in Harry's life, to confuse the boy. He hoped he could cause a fight between Harry and Granger, but the brown haired witch simply accepted everything without a hint of jealousy. Still, he wasn't worried.

He knew how to deal with the situation. After Harry saw his friend die, he had to go back to Dursleys. Enough time to make him build another shell towards others. He wanted to leave him there for at least a whole month which would be enough to shatter his self esteem. He had to stop everyone from sending letters and especially giving information to him. The Weasley's were easy enough. Molly would believe him without question, if he said it was for the boys own protection. The children wouldn't dare to oppose their mother easily. Few of the order members like Lupin might argue with him, but he knew they wouldn't want to risk the boys life. The only problem was his godfather Black and once again Hermione Granger.

Dumbledore knew that Sirius didn't really trust Dumbledore much. He also wasn't really happy with him because he forced him to live in that house. Sirius wouldn't just accept that he was safe there. Just like he thought, Sirius really did argue with him. But he wasn't master of words –and manipulations- for nothing. After a really long talk and lots of screaming on Black's part, he finally managed to convince him that it was for Harry's best. He stall for time, saying that he would bring him as soon as possible. Sirius finally relented at the combined assault from him and Molly Weasley. Still, Dumbledore wasn't happy how attached he was with the boy. He had to do something soon.

The girl was simply enough. She lived in the muggle world and couldn't really argue with his decision. He knew no matter how much she wanted to object to it, she wouldn't just sent a letter and endanger Harry's life. She didn't even have an owl to send to him, which would ensure that she wouldn't cause a problem.

But the girl once again proved to be more than he thought. She first started sending him letters with Weasley's owl. It was easy enough to ignore them. But then one day, when he arrived at the headquarters, he met a really angry brown haired young witch. He regretted giving Sirius that paper with his blessings to enter the headquarters. As the secret keeper, no one could have entered this place before he said them about it. Sirius insisted to have it written, saying that it was still his house. He finally relented to him, which he regretted after seeing the furious girl.

Dumbledore hated it when people argued with his decisions. That day, he got more arguing than he could remember. Hermione insisted that Harry should be here and said that no one could reach Harry at the headquarters of Order of the Phoenix, which was protected by Fidellius. This caused for Sirius to join the conversation as well. It took hours for him to calm them down. It only ended, because he promised them to bring Harry soon. He was really starting to get worried about the brown haired witch. Still, it wasn't anything he couldn't deal with.

Everything went downhill after Harry arrived at the headquarters. He hoped that Harry would rage and feel distant towards his friends. He hoped for him to feel betrayed and angry. Dumbledore didn't know what exactly happened that day but he certainly didn't think that he would start dating Hermione Granger. Now this really worried Albus Dumbledore.

Harry should be with someone that would let him do what was needed when the time came. He planned for him to be with Ginevra Weasley. Harry had to be with someone that would make him feel like a hero. No, someone that would make Harry think that he needed to be a hero. Someone who would stay behind when Harry went for his mission. Someone that would understand Harry's need for sacrifice for her and the world, and accept his dead.

Dumbledore knew that Miss Granger would never stay at the backseat. She would always stay with Harry and she would definitely not allow him to sacrifice himself easily. She already had too much influence in Harry's life and it was now much worse. In only a few days, Harry became a different person. He had more confidence and he wasn't afraid to show his feelings, which was definitely a new for the boy.

He also noticed that Miss Granger was stubbornly avoiding eye contact which was frustrating. He couldn't read her thoughts without making it too obvious and Harry's thoughts were taboo for him, as long as he had that connection with Voldemort. He had to make them trust him as soon as possible, before something bad happened.

He had to talk to Molly soon. He was sure that she was already planning something with her daughter. Dumbledore accepted that Hermione Granger would be in Harry's life one way or another, but he couldn't let her have a relationship with him. For the greater good, he had to do something quickly.

XxXxXxXxX

"She is crazy, I am telling you that. She is definitely crazy" screamed Ron angrily.

"Stop yelling Ron. You are talking about your own mother" said Hermione accusingly.

The trio was in Harry's room. After they ate, Arthur finally arrived at home, which freed Ron from his mothers wrath. He was raging since they came upstairs, which was ten minutes ago.

"You have no idea Hermione" said Ron angrily. "She is trying to kill me."

"By making you work?" asked Harry, trying to not sound amused and failing miserably. Ron glared at him.

"Yes." he said angrily. "I never worked this much, even when we stole fathers car. More importantly this house is a real death trap. Do you have any idea how many crazy things I found? A mantle that tried to choke me to death was just a mild one and the music box that made me sleep when opened can only be counted as amusing. Then there was a stupid locket that was impossible to open and I hate that bloody locket I tell you that. Mum ordered me to open it and after I tried for one hour, I finally gave it to Sirius. And what did he do? He tried one spell and then threw it away."

Harry and Hermione couldn't stay serious any longer and they both burst out laughing.

"This is not fair" said Ron glaring at them. "You are snogging each other and I have to work for it."

"Sorry mate" said Harry, who was still laughing. "We appreciate your support."

"I don't understand what her problem is" said Hermione suddenly. "I can imagine that she wanted Harry to be a part of her family but isn't she overdoing it?"

Harry nodded supportively while Ron went a little red.

"You are right. But I don't think it is only about Harry" said Ron blushing.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry suspiciously.

"She wanted to hook you up with Ginny and I think she hoped for me to be with Hermione" said Ron without looking at them.

A really tense silence followed Ron's declaration. He avoided looking at any of them. Hermione just looked confused while Harry glared at his friend.

The silence ended when Hermione burst out laughing.

"What is so funny?" asked a frustrated Ron and an angry Harry at the same time.

"I am sorry" said Hermione, trying to control herself. "Where did she get the idea that we would ever love each other that way? Don't get me wrong Ronald, you are a great friend but it would never work between us."

"Why not?" said Ron, before he could stop himself.

"What was that?" hissed Harry angrily and stood up. Ron took a step back.

"Calm down Harry. I am just curious why she thinks that" said Ron shrugging. Harry blushed a little and sat down.

"Oh, sorry" murmured Harry. Hermione looked at him half suspicious, half amusedly but didn't say anything. Instead, she answered Ron's former question.

"Ron, we have barely anything in common. It would work between friends, but not in a relation. We keep arguing with each other, which is not really healthy. It just wouldn't work out." She said all this with a little sadness in her tone. She just hoped that Ron had no feelings for her. She didn't want to hurt him. She couldn't read his emotions, which was rare for her. She turned to Harry.

"Besides" she continued lovingly. "I really love Harry and I don't think of letting him go soon."

She gave Harry a short kiss. He grinned.

"I started to fear that you wouldn't mention that" he said with a mock glare.

"My heart is all yours Mister Potter" murmured Hermione.

"Can't you wait until I leave the room" moaned Ron.

"No" they said in unison, still looking in each others eyes. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, what did you guys do while I was absent? What did Dumbledore want?" asked the redhead.

Hermione opened her mouth to answer but Harry interrupted her quickly.

"Nothing important. He just wanted to talk about our relationship. Meddling old fool."

What did you do afterwards?" asked Ron once again.

"We practiced a little, talked with Sirius and did a few other things that you wouldn't want to know" said Harry quickly. Hermione looked at him questioningly but to his relieve, didn't say anything.

"You are right, I definitely don't want to know" said Ron disgustedly. "Hey, do any of you want to play chess?"

But before any of them could answer, the door opened and Fred Weasley entered the room.

"Hey guys. How is my favorite couple?" he asked grinning. "I am just here to stop Ron from coming between you."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ron angrily.

"You should give a new couple some privacy Ronnie" said Fred grinning.

"Says the guy that entered the room without even knocking" murmured Hermione.

"I am sure the brightest witch of her age knows enough locking charms" said Fred winking. Hermione blushed a little and nodded. "Anyway, Ron, mum wants you to come downstairs. I think she found a new way to torture you."

Ron cursed loudly.

"I am really sorry for you little brother" said Fred, looking anything but sorry. "Let's go, or mum will have a fit."

"See you guys later" said Ron and followed Fred out of the room.

As soon as they left, Hermione looked at his boyfriend, who was trying to avoid looking at her.

"Harry" she said slowly.

"Yes?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Harry, look at me" she said angrily. Harry relented and grinned sheepishly. "Why didn't you tell Ron what we did today?"

"I don't know Mione" said Harry. "I just felt that we shouldn't tell him for now."

"Don't you trust him?" asked Hermione out of curiosity. In truth, she also had a few doubts about telling Ron.

"I don't know" said Harry truthfully. "But something tells me that we shouldn't tell him. I am not sure why."

"If you don't want to tell him, then I will support your decision" said Hermione.

Harry felt relieved. He was sure his doubts were mostly because of his jealousy towards his friend. He didn't like the look he gave Hermione. He also felt certain distrust towards his first friend and nearly everyone else but didn't want to accept it for now.

"I am happy you understand Hermione" said Harry.

"But you know that he will be really sad when he eventually finds out?" said Hermione.

"I'll personally apologize if we ever tell him" said Harry firmly. "For now, I trust only a few people. A lot of people already misused my trust. I am not going to let anyone do that to me again."

"I understand" said Hermione and hugged him. "And I am happy that I am one of these few people."

"I will always trust you" said Harry. Hermione smiled.

"I will always support you, no matter what your decision is" said Hermione. "But Harry, remember what too much distrust can do to someone. You need your friends on your side. You don't have to be alone so don't ever try to neglect me or anyone else."

"I won't" said Harry. He knew she was worried for him. "I promise you Hermione, I will never become another Dumbledore."

XxXxXxXxX

The Grimmauld Place was far from nice but Harry still felt happier than he ever did as days flew by. He and Hermione spent most of their time training or just spending time with each other. Sirius sometimes joined their training. They frequently went to library, to find more about the Horcruxes and make plans how to deal with Voldemort and Dumbledore.

Sirius was really happy with their company. He was slowly getting rid of the shadows that he had from his stay in Azkaban. They would never fully disappear but now, Sirius was really enjoying his life for the first time since years. He was really happy with his godsons and Hermione's trust towards him. He felt useful again. He was getting more and more attached towards the two with each day.

He didn't want to accept this, but he really saw James in Harry sometimes. Harry was like a son for him and a friend at the same time. Not only that, but Hermione also reminded him a lot of Lily. They were just perfect for each other in Sirius's opinion. He vowed to help them as much as he could.

Molly continued avoiding Harry and Hermione as much as possible while keeping Ron away from them. Ginny was never even around and the twins said that she was mostly in her room. They were not really concerned about their ignorance, though Hermione started to think that they were planning something.

The days flew and before they knew what happened, the day for Harry's trial came.

"Are you okay Harry?" asked Hermione. She was really pale.

"As okay as I can be" answered Harry truthfully. "Do you think they would throw me out of Hogwarts?"

"They can't" said Hermione a bit louder than necessary. "We already looked for it. You can use magic if there is a real danger. They can't do anything to you."

"But you know they hate me" said Harry. "They may plot something to do what they want."

"Don't let them get their way Harry" said Hermione forcefully. "Tell the truth, they can't just ignore it and if they do, Hogwarts would lose two brilliant students."

"Two?" asked Harry.

"Do you really believe I would go back to Hogwarts without you" said Hermione and hugged him. "There is no way I would leave you behind."

"I love you Hermione" said Harry sincerely.

"I love you too Harry" she said smiling.

"Enough with the fluff" screamed Fred and started throwing popcorns at them.

"Yeah, get a room you two" said George.

XxXxXxXxX

To Harry's surprise, it really went as easy as Hermione said. With Dumbledore's help, he was free of all accusing much to Fudge's dismay. After the trial, he came back with Mr. Weasley and Sirius decided to throw a little party for him.

As soon as he got the chance, he whispered to Hermione to come upstairs. Harry left the room without anyone noticing and a really pale Hermione followed him. She was nearly hysterical when he first came back. She was so relieved that she kissed him as soon as he said the result, ignoring the laughter of the twins and Mrs. Weasley anger.

"Is there a problem Harry?" she asked as soon as they entered. Harry quickly put some privacy charms around them.

"Not really" he said thoughtfully. "I just want to ask you something. Did you ever notice that Dumbledore was avoiding looking at me?"

Hermione wasn't sure what she expected but that was definitely unexpected. She thought about it for awhile before finally nodding.

"As we talked about the Horcruxes with him, he kept looking at me. I am sure he was trying to read my mind. I also saw him looking at Sirius a few times but never at you" she said finally.

"Exactly and today at my trial, he came at the last minute and disappeared as soon as it was over" said Harry.

"Maybe he doesn't want you to ask other questions" guessed Hermione.

"It is possible" accepted Harry. "But there must be a reason why he is not even looking at me, right?  
"You are right, it is definitely suspicious" said Hermione. "But I am not sure what it means. As far as I know, only mind magic requires eye contact and I don't think he expects you to read his mind."

"I don't believe it either" said Harry. "He doesn't even know that we practice Occlumency, there is no way he would take me for a real threat."

Hermione nodded. When she thought about it, she remembered other occasions where Dumbledore totally avoided looking at Harry.

"When did it start?" she asked finally.

"Since I came here" said Harry after thinking a little bit. "He didn't have problems with it last year. Something must have changed."

"Well, a lot of things happened since last year" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"I hate it when he does that" said Harry angrily.

"Don't worry, I will look for it. I am sure we can find out what it is." said Hermione reassuringly.

"You know that you are the best, right Miss Granger" said Harry grinning.

"Don't ever forget it Potter" said Hermione with an equal grin. "Let's go downstairs, before anyone notices our absence."

Harry nodded in acceptance and arm in arm, they joined the party again.

XxXxXxXxXxX

While Harry and Hermione talked, their best friend was in his sisters room.

"I can't do that Ginny" he said angrily.

"Do you really want to stay behind" said Ginny, who was equally angry. "You know that it will always hurt when you see them together."

"They love each other Ginny" said Ron.

"Do you want Harry to get the girl you love?" asked Ginny. She had an insane look in her eyes.

"I can't do that to my best friends" said Ron stubbornly.

"It is your decision. If you say anything to any of them, mum will definitely kill you this time" said Ginny with a maniacal grin. "You can help me and be happy or you can stay out of my way. I assure you, if they really love each other -which they don't- then it won't affect them."

Ron looked uncertainly to his sister but then shook his head.

"No Ginny, I won't do this" said Ron and left the room.

"Don't forget Ron, family always comes first" screamed Ginny after him.

XxXxXxXxX

_This was it, I hope you liked it. Next chapter, we will have the problem about the prefects, Harry's nightmares about the prophecy and a few other surprises._

_I skipped the trial, because it is exactly the same as it was in original OotP._

_What do you think about Dumbledore, Ron and Ginny? What do you expect them to do? I still say that this isn't a Ron bashing story but you never know when someone will make a mistake._

_Also, do you think this story has to much fluff? If so, is it bad, or good?_

_Please review, it really helps._


	8. Chapter 8: Prefects

**A/N: Writing this chapter took much longer than I expected. In fact, this is the longest chapter so far. I hope you will like it. **

**I disclaim everything besides the plot.**

**Chapter 8: Prefects**

"_Stupefy_" screamed Hermione and a red beam of light shot from her wand.

Harry once again jumped out of its way and shot his own stunner. Hermione, who didn't have enough space to dodge it, conjured a shield and blocked it. Harry shot a disarming charm this time. Hermione rolled out of its way.

"_Accio_" she said without standing up. Harry was about to use a shield when he heard the incantation. He noticed a few seconds too late what she was doing. One of the heavy books behind him flew towards Hermione and hit him on the back. He lost his balance and fell forward.

When he looked up, he saw Hermione in front of him smirking while pointing her wand at his face.

"Fine, you win." grumbled Harry.

"Of course I do." said Hermione smirking and helped him get up.

"Hey, you cheated." complained Harry.

"It is always good to use your environment Harry." said Hermione.

"I was tired," Harry accepted. "This time, it took longer than ten minutes."

"You have really gotten much better," said Hermione proudly. "I am sure you will be able to beat me soon."

"I doubt that," said Harry grimly, who was still in a bad mood.

"Your core is a bit stronger than mine which makes your spells more effective" said Hermione.

"I didn't notice any difference." said Harry.

"The difference is not really big" admitted Hermione. "We both have above average magical cores. In fact, it wouldn't make much difference in power. But if it ever comes to sheer endurance, you would last longer than me."

"That doesn't change the fact that you are brilliant," argued Harry. "You are still not using most of the spells you learned."

"Harry, we are practicing speed and accuracy, not spells." said Hermione. "It doesn't matter which one of us is the stronger one, considering that we are going to fight with Death Eaters, not each other."

"Yes, you are right. Let's try again" said Harry eagerly. Hermione laughed at his excitement and nodded. It has been weeks since Harry's trial. Hermione was happy to see, that Harry's willingness to practice with her didn't cease. In fact, it has become their routine by now. Mornings, they started with a bit work out, which was followed by spell training. After their practice, Hermione usually went to library to find more about Voldemort. Harry joined her most of the times, while Sirius along with Remus joined them a few times. Before they went to sleep, they practiced Occlumency. Harry already started building shields and was able to protect most of his memories against a passive attack.

They discussed if they wanted to tell Remus their secret that morning. Harry wanted to tell him, saying that they needed his support. Hermione agreed with him but was still a little skeptical. They agreed to talk with Sirius before deciding what to do.

They kept practicing for a while when the door suddenly burst open. They both instinctively shot stunners towards the door. Fortunately, the spells missed Sirius with mere centimeters. He stared at them with wide eyes.

"My own godson is trying to kill me. How could you Harry?" said Sirius with a mock disappointment. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Sirius, how many times do I have to tell you to knock before entering," scolded Hermione.

"I can't catch you by surprise if I knock each time, right?" said Sirius winking.

"One day, you will really get hurt because of this." said Harry. Sirius just laughed.

"Forget it Harry, let him do it. I do need injuries to teach you a few healing charms" said Hermione darkly. Sirius gulped.

"Anyway" he said quickly. "I just wanted to tell you that your Hogwarts owls arrived."

Just as he said it, Ron entered the room hesitantly.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Ron, you don't have to do it when the door is open." said Hermione.

"It is better to be sure than sorry." said Ron. "I don't want to see same think happening again."

"I told you Ron, it was an accident" said Hermione. Harry laughed at the background.

"What happened?" asked Sirius interestedly. Harry opened his mouth.

"Don't you dare" threatened Ron. Harry smiled sheepishly and nodded. "I brought your letters. I thought you wouldn't want to change clothes just to get these."

He had three different letters in his hand. He gave them theirs and sat on the couch.

"I wonder if Dumbledore managed to find a new Defense against the Dark Arts Professor." said Harry.

"He said, he was having some problems with it. I can't imagine why." said Sirius grinning.

"I wish Remus could get the job again." said Harry.

"He definitely needs it. We-"

But Sirius was interrupted with a loud shriek from Hermione.

"What?" asked Harry.

"I am a prefect" she whispered, as if she couldn't believe it. She was holding the badge with wide eyes. The others laughed at her antics.

"What a surprise" said Sirius with a fake shock on his face.

"There must be a mistake." said Ron grinning.

"Shut up! Both of you. I just forgot about that," said Hermione blushing. Then she turned her attention to Harry. "And?"

"What?" asked Harry.

"Are you also a prefect?" she asked excitedly. Harry looked at his envelope and shook his head.

"Wait, if you didn't become a prefect, then who did?" asked Hermione who looked disappointed.

"Maybe Dean" said Harry. "or Seamus or-"

"I did" whispered Ron suddenly. They all stared at him with shock.

"What?" asked Harry and Hermione at the same time. He showed them the badge in his hand.

"They made me prefect" said Ron. He was staring at his badge.

"Oh" said Hermione, unsure what to say. She looked at Harry, but didn't see any emotion on his face. Sirius congratulated both of them once again and left the three friends alone.

"Congratulation Ron" said Harry awkwardly.

"Yes, congratulation" repeated Hermione. Ron just nodded.

They sat there in silent, each lost in their own thoughts. They were all unsure what to say. They were sitting there in silence, when Fred and George entered the room.

"There you guys are" said George.

"Mum is looking for you Ronnie" said Fred. "What happened to you guys?"

They showed the badges to the twins.

"So you finally joined the dark side" said George. "As unfunny as it is, why are you guys surprised? You have to be a total moron to choose someone other than the brightest witch of her age and the boy who lived."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at this statement a little, while both Harry and Ron avoided their eyes.

"Forge, I can't help but think that we are missing something here" said Fred.

"I completely agree Gred" said George.

"Ron is the new prefect" said Harry. "Not me"

"What?" said the twins in unison.

"Only an idiot would make Ron a prefect" said George once again.

"You do know that Professor McGonagall as our Head of House chooses the prefects?" said Hermione warningly.

"Yes, we know" said George.

"Poor Minnie. She is finally going senile" said Fred.

"Okay, stop it." said Hermione. She was still protective of her favorite Professor.

"Gryffindor is doomed" said Fred.

"Guys" said Harry warningly. Ron looked like he was about to get sick.

"Forget Gryffindor. The whole Hogwarts is doomed" moaned George.

"Britain itself is doomed."

"The whole magical world"

"It could even affect muggles."

"Okay, that's it." said Hermione angrily and pushed them out of the room. "Out!"

She ignored their protests and pushed them to the door.

"Temperament you have, young lady," said Fred.

"Ronnie should come and tell mum about this," said George sadly. "I don't think I could bear saying it."

"Okay, I am coming." said Ron slowly. He took his letter and his badge and followed them.

"We are warning you now Ron" said Fred. "If you start acting like Percy, we will plaster that badge on your face."

The Weasleys left the room, leaving two confused teenagers behind.

"Are you okay Harry?" asked Hermione as soon as they left the room. Harry didn't look at her.

"I am fine. Well done love" he said emotionlessly.

"I really thought you would be the other prefect" she said truthfully. "I-"

"I am sorry Hermione but I don't want to talk about it" Harry snapped at her.

Harry didn't really know why he was angry. He never cared that much about such things. Did he expect that he would get the badge? The truth was yes, he thought he would get it. Why did he believe it? Did he really think that he was better than the others? Better than Ron?

"_Only an idiot would make Ron a prefect"_ echoed in his head. He felt satisfaction at these words for a few seconds. He started hating himself moments later.

"Harry?" said Hermione softly.

"Yes?"

"Please don't try to shut me out. We promised that we would talk everything with each other."

"I guess" said Harry reluctantly. Hermione held his cheeks and forced him to look at her.

"Then look at me and tell me what is bothering you" said Hermione firmly.

And he did. Before he knew what he was doing, he started telling her his feelings.

"I- I guess I thought I would be a prefect alongside you, not Ron" said Harry.

"Are you sure it is just because of that?" asked Hermione softly. "You never cared that much about being a prefect."

"I know" admitted Harry. "But, I still think that I deserved it. I did so much, I am not a bad student, I am more respectful than most of them… Shouldn't I be the prefect?"

He started blushing before those words even left his mouth. He knew he was sounding childish but he just couldn't stop himself. To his relief, Hermione smiled.

"I think your problem is not about prefects love. I think you are more concerned about being left behind, right?"

"You know me too well, right" said Harry, half ashamed, half amused.

"Better than anyone else" said Hermione grinning.

"I guess, I am feeling neglected. We did everything together since years and I don't want to stay behind." admitted Harry.

Hermione wanted to say that it was stupid, but she knew it wouldn't help Harry. She could understand him and knew he needed comfort at the moment. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him for a short but deep kiss.

"Do you think Ron is better than me Hermione?" asked Harry suddenly.

"What?" asked Hermione surprised.

"Is Ron better than me?" asked Harry again.

"About what?"

"I don't know. Everything." said Harry impatiently.

"Harry, don't do this" said Hermione suddenly.

"What?"

"Don't feel jealous of anyone"

"I am not jealous" defended Harry himself.

"Harry, you are the most important person in my life. Ron is my friend but more importantly, he is your best friend."

"I know, but I just can't help it" said Harry grimly.

"I can tell you that you are better than that Harry" said Hermione. "Do you remember what jealousy did to Ron last year? He nearly lost our friendship because of it. There is no reason for you to be jealous. You are a great person Harry. I love you, with or without a stupid badge."

"You have no idea how much I love you Miss Granger" said Harry and kissed his girlfriend.

"And I love you, Mr. Potter" she said hugging him. "And just so you know, I also think that it was unfair. What was McGonagall thinking? I am sure Ron would admit that he is not really suited for this job."

"I am sure she has her reasons" said Harry with a goofy grin. It was hard to feel bad about a badge while his arms were around his lovely girlfriend.

"That won't do" said Hermione to herself. "Harry, can I borrow Hedwig?"

Whatever Harry awaited from her, this was not it.

"Why do you want her?" asked Harry.

"I have to send a letter. I can explain it later." She said quickly.

"She is in my room but didn't we want to talk with Sirius and Remus?"

"It won't tale too long, I promise. Just find Sirius and Remus. We can meet in the library."

She gave him a peck on his lips and run out of the room leaving a surprised Harry behind.

XxXxXxXxX

Ron nearly dumped at Hermione when he left his room.

"Why are you running like that?" he asked.

"I need to send a letter and Harry said I could use Hedwig" said Hermione hastily. "What are you doing here?"

"I put Hogwarts letter in my trunk" said Ron shrugging.

"You still have your badge" said Hermione grinning, pointing at the badge in his hand.

"Mum wants me to wear it today." said Ron sadly.

"Be careful around twins then" said Hermione. "I will see you later Ron."

"Hermione"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you a question?" said Ron hesitantly. Hermione could see that her friend was struggling about something.

"What is the matter?"

"Why do you think they sent me that badge?" he blurted out finally.

"Why would you ask that?" said Hermione.

"Tell me the truth, do you think I deserved this badge? Do you believe that Harry deserved it more than me?"

Hermione sighed. Here we go again, she thought.

"Let me answer this with another question Ron. Do you believe you are really the prefect type?"

"No" said Ron bluntly, surprising Hermione. "I am not really in to extra work, I am lazy and I am not responsible. But I want to hear your opinion. Does Harry deserve it more than me?"

"I will be honest with you Ron. Yes, I think Harry would be better suited for the job than you" said Hermione. She prepared herself for an outburst but it never came.

"Thank you for being honest Hermione" said Ron. "I needed to hear that. I should go now."

Hermione stared after him as he left. Perhaps her friend was actually growing up.

XxXxXxXxX

Twenty minutes later, they all met in the Black Library. They were sitting around a small table.

"So you guys were hiding here when you vanished" said Remus.

"Here and there" said Harry grinning.

"So let me get this straight Padfoot" said Remus. "You are letting those two children, who can't join the order meetings because they are too young, into the darkest library in Britain?"

"Don't accuse me for Dumbledore's mistakes Moony" said Sirius grinning.

"We are not children Remus" said Harry forcefully.

"I guess you aren't" said Lupin sighing. "What did you wanted to talk about?"

"So, do you guys want to tell him everything?" asked Sirius.

"We are not sure about that" said Hermione. "We wanted to ask your opinion."

"You really care that much about my opinion" asked Sirius who was clearly surprised.

"Of course" said Harry simply.

"I would trust Moony with my life guys" said Sirius. He was feeling emotional for their trust. "But it is your decision, not mine."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. After all these years of friendship, they learned to communicate without talking. After a few seconds, they both nodded.

"What is this all about?" asked Remus, who couldn't stay silent any longer.

"If we tell you that secret, will you promise not to say anything to anyone?" said Hermione, looking him in the eyes. "Especially to Dumbledore."

"Why would you hide anything from Dumbledore?" asked Remus.

"You will know after we tell you everything" said Harry.

"I am sure you won't trust Dumbledore as much when you hear it" added Sirius.

"But even if you don't agree with us, you have to promise not to tell anything to him" said Hermione.

"Okay, I trust you and I promise not to say anything. I can give an unbreakable vow if you want."

"This is not necessary" said Harry, who read about different kind of vows weeks ago. "Hermione, I think you should explain it."

She nodded and started telling their old Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor everything. She briefly told him about her arguments with Dumbledore. Then she told him about her training, Horcruxes, their meeting with the headmaster and finally about Harry's connection with Voldemort.

"That meddling old fool" said Remus angrily, making all three of them grin. "He was hiding so much from us."

"I am sure that he is hiding much more than that" said Harry.

"Now, are you going to join our rebellion against the mightiest wizard of our time" said Sirius grinning.

"That sounds totally wrong, you know that Padfoot" said Remus in a mock anger. "But I trust you all. Just tell me how I can help you."

"This is the marauder way" said Sirius.

"Did Dumbledore mention any of these in an Order meeting?" asked Harry. Since their meeting with Dumbledore, they suspected that Sirius was not included in a few Order meetings outside Grimmauld Place.

"No he didn't." said the werewolf frowning. "Wait a second. Maybe he did. He did say something about a connection between you and Voldemort."

"What kind of connection?" asked Harry.

"Something about your scar. He said there was a link between your minds" said Remus.

"That's it" screamed Hermione suddenly.

"What?" the others asked in unison.

"We were wondering why Dumbledore avoided meeting Harry's eyes" explained Hermione for Remus. "That was so easy, how could we miss that."

"Hermione" said Sirius. "I know you are a genius and everything but could you explain it for us lesser beings."

"Shut up" said Hermione blushing. "As I said before, only mind magic requires eye contact. But Harry can't use it and there is no reason for Dumbledore to suspect something like this."

"And?" asked Harry impatiently.

"Your scar Harry" said Hermione. "It has a connection with Voldemort. Maybe he thinks Voldemort could use that connection to invade your mind."

"But, doesn't that mean he could get every information out of my mind?" said a horrified Harry. "That means I am a danger for all of you right?"  
"Harry, weren't you listening to me?" said Hermione rolling her eyes. "I said Dumbledore thinks that, not that it was true. I think this is why he wanted you to learn Occlumency, to protect your –or his- secrets from Voldemort."

"Do you think he is wrong?" asked Remus.

"He must be" said Hermione. "If Voldemort could invade Harry's mind, he would know where we are, even if he can't enter this place because of Fidellius. He would have attacked Harry as soon as he left his house in Private Drive."

"Well, there was an attack from Malfoys" said Sirius. "He was also attacked by Dementors. Doesn't that mean that there really is a connection?"

"I am pretty sure that the Malfoys were only patrolling there or there would be a better Death Eater than Draco" said Hermione. "Voldemort is not stupid enough to send two Dementors to deal with Harry. I am sure someone else sent those dementors to get Harry in trouble, not to kill him. Also, I didn't say that there wasn't a connection."

"But you said-" started a confused Harry.

"I said that Voldemort can't use that connection to invade your mind." said Hermione. "There are two possibilities. He can't use it to invade your mind or he doesn't know how to do it."

"The latter is more likely" said Remus, who was the only one that followed Hermione's train of thoughts.

"I agree" said Hermione. "I also don't think he will ever find out about it without a strong use of that connection by Harry."

"So you are saying Harry is safe" said Sirius.

"I would say it is now more urgent for Harry to learn Occlumency" said Hermione. "But besides that, I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"You are brilliant love" said Harry excitedly and pulled her in to a passionate kiss. They finally separated, when Sirius and Remus' coughing got too loud to ignore.

"We should go to the kitchen or else people might suspect something" said Sirius finally.

"Sirius is right. I don't think we have anything else to discuss for now" said Harry. "We will meet here again if any of us finds anything else."

"Oh, I totally forgot" said Remus. "I think Molly wanted to give a small party"

"What party?" asked both Harry and Hermione.

XxXxXxXxX

"I can't believe Mrs. Weasley actually did that" said Harry. He was staring at the big placard on the wall.

_CONGRATULATIONS NEW HOGWARTS PREFECTS_

_ Ron and Hermione_

"Mum was too excited to hear the news, that's it" said Ron, trying to soften the mood.  
"I thought she hated me" said Hermione.

"She didn't hate you" said Ron. "She was just pissed of. I am sure she regretted what she said few hours later."

"Then why did she punish you afterwards?" asked Harry.

"I am her son, she likes punishing us. This is her way of disciplining children" said Ron shrugging. "Try to enjoy the party."

"It is easier said than done" thought Hermione. She was glaring at Ginny, who was talking with the twins. She didn't see the youngest Weasley since their argument. She didn't look much different. Her hair was a little messier than normal but besides that, she looked happy.

"Come on Hermione, Harry. Eat more pie" said Molly. She also didn't act any different, which made both of them suspicious.

"Would she put anything in it?" whispered Harry to Hermione.

"I don't know" she whispered back. "But everyone eats from that pie. I doubt she could do something like this."

Harry agreed but still pulled out his wand to check it. Thankfully, there was nothing in it so they hesitantly took a piece from the pie. They silently ate it, while looking at everyone suspiciously. After spending so much time without any company besides each other and Sirius, it was strange to sit at the middle of this crowd.

"Can I talk with you guys?"

They turned around and saw Ginny looking shyly at them. Hermione's hand instinctively found her wand.

"Look, I am really sorry for what I did Hermione. You were right, it was just a crush and I have to move on." said Ginny. "You are my best friend Hermione and I don't want to lose you because of something like this."

"Do you really mean it?" asked Hermione. Harry saw that she was really getting emotional.

"I am. I hope we can still be friends Hermione" said Ginny.

"I want to believe you Ginny" said Hermione. She wanted to shake her hand but Ginny just pulled her into a hug.

"Friends?" asked Ginny.

"Friends" said Hermione smiling. After they let go, Ginny walked to Harry and shook his hand.

"I should also apologize to you Harry" said the redhead. "Can you forgive me for my immaturity?"

"If Hermione forgives you, then I will as well" said Harry. Ginny smiled.

"Will you share my room again?" asked Hermione.

"Not necessary. I have enough space in that new room" said Ginny. Hermione nodded. "Do you want to drink something?" She took two glasses and gave to them. "I have to help mum a little. Congratulations for making prefect Hermione."

She left them and run to her mother.

"Do you really trust her Hermione?" asked Harry.

"I want to believe her Harry" said Hermione emotionally. "She is my best female friend, I don't want to lose her."

Harry squeezed her shoulder lovingly and she smiled.

"I don' think you should drink these guys" said Ron suddenly. They both looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry, who already intended to check the glasses.

"Ginny is not a bad girl" said Ron, unsure what to say. "But she has the tendency to act without thinking. She might do something wrong."

"I guess you are right" said Hermione and quickly pulled out her wand. She scanned the glasses for any kind of interference. Finally satisfied, she put her wand back in her robes.

"Nothing in it" said Hermione finally. The others left a sigh of relief.

"Potter!" called Moody from the other side of the room. "Come here, I want to show you something."

XxXxXxXxX

It took Moody ten whole minutes to show a picture of the old Order of the Phoenix. He probably meant well, but seeing his parents from all of a sudden didn't really improve his mood.

He scanned the room for Hermione, but couldn't find her anywhere. He finally went to Ron and Ginny.

"What did Moody want?" asked Ron.

"He just wanted to show me some photos" said Harry. "Did you guys see Hermione?"

"She said she was bored and went upstairs to bring a book" answered Ginny smiling.

"I should look for her" said Harry. He didn't like the idea of leaving Hermione alone and quickly run upstairs.

As soon as Harry left, Ginny looked at her brother with a sparkle in her eyes and whispered to him.

"Did you really think I would be that obvious Ronald" she said darkly. Before Ron could register what she talked about, she left him and quickly joined the others.

XxXxXxXxX

After he checked both of their rooms, their training room and the library, Harry started to feel worried. He couldn't find Hermione anywhere. He started scanning every room in the house.

Just as he was about to alarm everyone about her absence, he saw her. She was sitting on the floor and staring at something. Harry wanted to call for her but before he could, he saw something that took his breath away.

Voldemort himself was standing in front of Hermione. Harry's eyes widened in horror. It couldn't be. How could he enter this house? But Voldemort was not looking at Hermione or him. He was looking at someone else. He recognized the person that was standing at the other end of the room:

It was him.

He looked a little older than now but it was definitely him. Hermione was staring at the fake Harry with tears in her eyes. The other Harry only saw Voldemort who was pointing his wand at him.

"_The boy who lived, come to die_." hissed Voldemort with anger. Harry was too surprised at the scene to move.

"No" he heard Hermione whisper.

"_Avada Kedavra"_ screamed Voldemort and a bright green light erupted from his wand straight at the fake Harry.

"NO" screamed Hermione this time. She tried to run to him, but before she could move, the green light hit the fake Harry and he fell, his lifeless eyes staring at the sky.

Hermione was nearly hysterical now. She tried to run to him but before she could, the real Harry run to her and held her physically. He forced her to look at him.

"Hermione" he said softly. "This is not real."

"I have to help him" muttered Hermione. She didn't seem to register who he was and was struggling make him let her go.

"Hermione" said Harry louder. "I am here. This is not real."

Her tear filled chocolate brown eyes found his emerald green eyes and she finally registered what was happening.

"Harry?" she said barely above whisper.

"I am here Hermione, this is not real. It is just a boggart" said Harry, who noticed what that scene was. He pulled out his wand and pointed at Voldemort. _"Riddikulus_"

Both Voldemort and the fake Harry's body vanished. Hermione hugged him tightly and started sobbing. Harry just held her and they stood like this for a while.

"I always have that nightmare. You are walking to Voldemort and he kills you. I can't help you, I try to call for you but you never hear me. It wasn't real" muttered Hermione crying. "It wasn't real."

"Yes Hermione, I am here. I will always be there for you." said Harry hugging her tighter.

"Promise me Harry. You will never make this real" said Hermione forcefully and looked him in the eyes.

"I promise you Hermione, I will never do something that will make you sad. I won't let this happen" said Harry, not knowing that he just ruined one of the biggest plans of Albus Dumbledore.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Far away from Grimmauld Place, Minerva McGonagall was sitting in her office, sorting the names of the new muggleborn first years when she heard a knock on her window. She opened her window and a snow white owl entered the room, which was by now as popular as her owner.

She wondered why Harry Potter would send her a letter. She opened it and saw that it wasn't from the person she expected.

_Dear Professor McGonagall_

_I wanted to thank you for seeing me worthy to make a prefect. I am really honored._

_But I have to apologize and decline that badge. With all respect, I don't agree with one of your choices. I see your choice of the male prefect for Gryffindor unfair. I am sure you have very good reasons for doing it but I am sorry to say that I will be unable to do my duties correctly under these circumstances. _

_Hermione J. Granger_

She found her badge in the envelope. You don't have to be a genius to know who her favorite student was talking about. In fact, she wanted to give the badge to Harry Potter but the headmaster convinced her that he didn't need more problems than he already had. It was clear that it was the wrong decision.

As she was deep in thoughts, another owl flew through the window. This owl was much smaller than Hedwig. She it with a frown and found a much shorter, less formal letter.

_Professor McGonagall_

_Thank you, but I can't accept this badge. Being a prefect really doesn't suit me. I am sorry._

_Ronald Weasley_

_P.S: Please don't tell anything to my mum. She would kill me._

Minerva McGonagall felt her anger rising. Albus Dumbledore will have to answer her and this time, there was no chance that he would be able to convince her to anything. She took both letters and badges and stormed out of the riim.

_That was definitely the longest chapter so far. I hope you guys like it. I want to answer a few questions before anyone asks._

_Why can Hermione defeat Harry? First, the fact that Harry is much stronger than the others is a popular fanfiction idea, but not cannon. That being said, Harry will be strong in this story (Though neither Harry nor Hermione will be super heroes). As I said, Harry has slightly stronger magical core than Hermione, while Hermione knows more spells than him. They will never fight each other, so it is not really important which one is stronger, they are both the main characters. They both have strengths and weaknesses. Hermione defeats Harry at the moment, because she trained while Harry was at the Dursleys. She is training Harry to make him better, Harry will catch up sooner or later. (I am not saying that he will surpass her)._

_By the way, Hermione knows what Voldemort looks like because she saw him in Harry's memories while she trained Legilimency with him._

_It may seem like I am neglecting Harry by making Hermione find all the answers. Does it bother anyone? I just find it more logical. Harry will be more active sooner or later, don't worry._

_Ron is more mature in this story but that doesn't mean he can't make mistakes._

_Please review. If the story gets a lot of reviews, it is easier to write and I can update sooner. Thank you for reading._


	9. Chapter 9: Luna Lovegood

**A/N: I apologize for taking this long to write this chapter. This is the bad thing about following cannon, you are forced to repeat a few things sometimes. I want to avoid writing the same as in the cannon as much as possible, this is why writing this took so long.**

**The last chapter didn't get as many reviews as the other chapters. I don't really know why, but I hope this chapter will be better.**

**This chapter has the same title as its cannon counterpart, but not much is common. I am skipping everything that is the same as in the original OotP. Things will become more different and interesting after this chapter. I hope you still like it.**

**(I didn't have time to correct possible mistakes, I hope there aren't many. I will try to correct them as soon as possible).**

**And I still don't own anything besides the plot.**

**Chapter 9: Luna Lovegood**

Harry and Hermione were sitting with their trunk, watching the chaos in the Grimmauld Place. Harry was happy that he listened to Hermione instead of following Ron's example. He packed all his belongings yesterday, instead of doing like the Weasley's, who run around the house wildly and listened to Mrs. Weasley's unending screams.

"Poor Ron" said Harry, watching his friend getting hit with a trunk that was levitated by the Weasley twins.

"Is he okay?" asked Hermione concernedly.

"I don't know. Wait, never mind. He stood up,"

"-WHAT IF SOMEONE GOT HURT-"

"This is really bad for the ears" said Hermione.

"Don't tell anyone but Fred and George invented charmed headsets" whispered Harry grinning. "They barely hear anything."

"And we have to listen to that" growled Hermione but didn't say anything else.

Thankfully, Molly cut her tirade short, because they were late for the train. While the Weasley's continued running around the room, Sirius approached them.

"Can I talk with you two in private" he whispered.

Without waiting for an answer he left and they followed him to one of the empty rooms.

"What is it?" asked Harry. They knew that Sirius was not happy with being here alone, but both Harry and Hermione already explained him that they have to go to Hogwarts, which he accepted.

"We –me and Remus- wanted to give you something" said Sirius quickly. He took two packets from his pocket and gave to them. "With this, you can contact us whenever you want."

"Sirius, I told you, you can't put yourself in danger-" started Hermione concernedly.

"Yes mum" said Sirius grinning. "Seriously, don't worry Hermione. There is no risk with those mirrors."

"Mirrors?" What kind of mirrors?" asked Harry.

"WHERE ARE THE OTHERS" came Molly's scream from outside. They all sighed.

"Why does she feel the need to scream that much" said Hermione.

"Let's go before she blows the house up" said Sirius.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Harry.

"Why, I am coming with you guys of course" said Sirius grinning.

"You can't-" started Harry and Hermione at the same time but Sirius quickly run out of the room.

XxXxXxXxX

After a painful ride they finally arrived at King's Cross. Harry wasn't happy with all the order members that came to protect them.

"You" said Hermione as he told her about his concern. "They came to protect you."

"I doubt they will just look away when someone attacks one of the others" said Harry.

"Fair enough" said Hermione. "Still, they wouldn't be here if you weren't with us. Padfoot, please, stop attracting people."

Padfoot was running happily around the platform. Hermione was trying to hide him from curious eyes, but he wasn't really helping her.

"He barely leaves that house Hermione" said Ron. "Let him have his fun."

Padfoot stopped running and looked in Hermione's eyes, trying to look sad.

"Worst puppy eyes ever Sirius" she said but she couldn't stop herself from smiling. Sirius barked happily and followed them.

The children entered the platform, each with at least one adult on their side. Molly wanted to keep the family mostly to themselves while avoiding Harry and Hermione but neither Ron nor the twins helped her with this.

Harry looked around and saw that most students already entered the train.

"Once again, we will have to search for an empty compartment" whispered Harry to Ron and Hermione. The latter rolled her eyes.

"Did we ever arrive early in the platform?" she murmured.

"Weasleys always arrive late" said Harry.

"No Mr. Potter, a Weasley is never late, nor is he early" said Fred grinning from his left.

"He arrives precisely when he means to" said George from his other side.

"You should definitely hurry" said Remus looking around. "Not much time left."

The farewell was short. While Weasley's said their goodbyes to their parents, Harry and Hermione talked with Remus and Sirius. Remus reminded them to use the mirrors as soon as they found somewhere private. They agreed and the children entered the train.

The twins said their goodbyes to find their friends, so the others had to search for an empty compartment. This was especially painful for Harry, because everyone kept staring at him with various emotions, no matter where they went.

"Hey, Neville" called Ron suddenly. Neville was obviously also searching for a compartment unsuccessfully. He jumped when he heard his name but relaxed visibly after seeing them.

"Hey guys" he said smiling shyly. The others greeted him and together, they kept searching for a compartment, until they found one with only one student. It was a blond girl, who was reading some kind of magazine.

"Maybe I should search for another one" said Neville.

"Don't worry Neville. It is just Luna" said Ginny.

"Whatever, we can't search all day" said Harry and the others quickly agreed.

Hermione sat on the window side as always, opposite the strange girl. Harry of course, sat next to his girlfriend and Ginny quickly took his other side, much to Hermione's dismay. This led to a mini competition between Ron and Neville. Neither wanted to sit next to the unknown girl. Neville won and Ron was left with no other option but to sit between Neville and Luna.

"Hello" said Hermione looking at the girl, who didn't once look up from her magazine since they entered. She kept reading, seemingly not hearing Hermione's greeting. When Hermione was about to give up, she suddenly looked up with strange, wide eyes.

"Did anyone tell you that you look a lot like Harry Potter?" she asked to Harry. Everyone looked surprised, but she just kept watching Harry.

"Well, I am him" said Harry uncertainly.

"Who?" asked the girl.

"Harry Potter"

"Oh, that explains why you look like him. Makes sense" said the girl. Ginny was trying to hold back her giggling unsuccessfully.

"Well okay." said Hermione, trying to break from the awkward situation. "My name is Hermione Granger."

Luna looked at her with curiosity.

"You are Gryffindor right?"

"Yes" said Hermione.

"You have a lot of fans from first to fourth years in Ravenclaw" she said suddenly. "But also a lot of haters from upper classes."

"Why?"

"They said that someone smart has to be in Ravenclaw. Most of them are sure that you are cheating."

With this, Ron joined Ginny's laughing. Hermione glared at him.

"Well, I am not."

"I know that you don't"

"How?" asked Hermione.

"You just told that you don't" said Luna.

"I could be lying right?"

"Why would you lie to me?"

"If I am really cheating somehow, why wouldn't I?"

"Makes sense"

"Wait, why do you-" started Hermione.

"You are Harry Potter's girlfriend right?"

"How do you know that?" asked Hermione, who was desperately trying to make sense of Luna's words.

"Why wouldn't I know that?" said Luna.

"We only started dating this summer" said Hermione.

"If you say so" said Luna and went back to her magazine. Now everyone was desperately trying not to laugh. Harry saw the murderous look on his girlfriends face and put his arm around her to calm her down.

"How was your summer Luna?" asked Ginny.

"Ginny? Why are you so angry?" asked Luna suddenly staring at her, completely ignoring her question.

"I am not" said Ginny.

"You look like you are about to kill someone" said Luna staring at her. The others looked at Ginny, who had only a surprised look on her face.

"You know Luna, I think Hermione is the one who is angry" said Ron.

"Ronald Weasley right?"

"Yes"

"I don't think you are right" said Luna. She started studying Hermione who was glaring at her. "I can't see anything negative in Hermione's eyes, only Ginny's."

"Okay, I will start ignoring you now" said Hermione, who finally gave up trying to communicate with the girl. She took one of her books and started reading.

"I like you. You are nice" said Luna suddenly to Hermione. She stared at the younger girl with shock, but the latter just went back to her magazine.

"She is mental" whispered Ron to Harry. Thankfully, no one else heard him.

"Hey, don't you two have to go to Prefect meeting?" asked Ginny suddenly.

"So you two really become prefects" said Neville curiously.

"No, Hermione and Ron did" said Harry. "Ginny is right. We totally forgot about that"

To his surprise, Hermione didn't panic or run out of the room. Instead, both she and Ron went red.

"What?" asked Harry.

"I am not a Prefect Harry" said Hermione.

"What do you mean?"

"I sent my badge back to McGonagall."

"Why would you do that?" said Harry angrily.

"Isn't that obvious" said Hermione nervously.

"You shouldn't have done it" growled Harry. Hermione opened her mouth to answer but Ron interrupted them before their fight could go any further.

"Oh and I felt bad for leaving Hermione alone for nothing" he said.

"Why?"

"I also sent my badge back, you know."

Everyone –besides Luna of course- stared at Ron open mouthed.

"What? Too much responsibility for my taste" said Ron shrugging.

"Did you really say that You-Know-Who came back last year?" asked Luna suddenly staring at Harry. It was obvious that she didn't hear one word of their conversation.

"Yes, I did" said Harry in a challenging tone.

"The Prophet says that you are a liar and crazy" said Luna in a dreamy voice.

"I noticed" said Harry, trying to figure out what she was talking about. "But I know I am not lying."

"They also say that you are crazy" said Luna.

"We would have noticed if he was crazy" said Ron. She turned her wide eyes to him for a few seconds then turned back to Harry.

"I guess you would" said Luna. "You look sane to me"

Harry stared confusedly while Ron desperately tried not to laugh.

"Do you believe me?" asked Harry.

"Why wouldn't I believe you?" said Luna.

"I- never mind" said Harry shrugging.

After Luna went back to her magazine, the boys and Ginny started talking about Quidditch. Hermione, who was never a fan of the game, snuggled into her boyfriend and continued reading her book.

Just when Ron was complaining about the unfair decisions in the last game of Chudley Cannons, the door of the compartment opened and Cho Chang entered.

"Hello Harry" said Cho.

"Oh, hi Cho" said Harry nervously. Luna looked up once again and started studying Cho, much to her dismay.

"Hello Luna" said Cho halfheartedly, but the younger girl didn't answer. "How was your summer Harry?"

Hermione didn't look up from her book, but after Cho started talking with Harry, she snuggled even closer to him and her eyes, while still on her book, narrowed dangerously.

"Surprisingly good. How was yours?" asked Harry. He knew that she must still feel bad about Cedric's dead and felt sorry for the girl. Hermione's grip on his right arm tightened a little more. Ginny also shifted uncomfortably for some reason.

"Good, I guess." said Cho, smiling a little seductively. "Look Harry, I really believe you. I know how bad you must feel. If you ever need someone to talk, I will gladly listen to you."

Hermione finally slammed her book shut and glared at the Chinese girl.

"This is nice of you Cho" said Luna, before Hermione could open her mouth. "Cedric Diggory was your boyfriend right? You are really brave if you can talk about his death with someone, right Harry?"

"Yes, I guess" said Harry unsurely.

"I mean I probably couldn't. Could you talk with someone if you ever lost Harry, Hermione?"

"I don't even want to think about it" said Hermione.

"What do you mean?" repeated Cho, trying to hide her shock.

"Did you two ever meet each other?" said Luna with wide eyes. "This is Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you" said Hermione with an evil smile.

"I heard a lot about you" stuttered Cho. She finally noticed how close she and Harry sat. "I should probably go now. Bye Harry."

With this, she quickly left their compartment. Neville and Ron looked confused. Harry shifted uncomfortably and stared at Hermione fearfully. Thankfully, she didn't look angry and she was staring at Luna, who went back to her magazine as if nothing happened.

"Luna!" called Hermione.

"Yes" said Luna in her dreamy voice.

"I think I also like you" said Hermione with a warm smile and gave the younger girl a short hug. Luna looked confused for a second, but then returned the hug with a smile.

"That is nice" she said and turned back to her magazine. Hermione also continued reading, ignoring the confusion of the others.

"Okay, what just happened?" protested Ron but no one answered his question.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"I don't like this Umbridge woman." declared Harry to the others. They were sitting on Gryffindor table, where everyone talked about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. She gave a rather lame speech after interrupting Dumbledore. The first impression was definitely not good on the students.

"Didn't you say that she is working for Fudge?" asked Neville to Harry. He nodded

"This is already enough to hate her." said Ron wisely. "She really didn't need to wear those hideous pink things."

"She looks more like a toad than a human" said Dean.

"She will definitely cause trouble" said Hermione.

"She can't be worse than Snape right?" said Neville.

"Of course not" said Harry and Ron at the same time.

"I am not sure guys" said Hermione. "Didn't you listen to her speech?"

"No" said everyone at the same time. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I am pretty sure that she was sent here by the Ministry" said Hermione impatiently.

"They are probably trying to control Hogwarts" guessed Harry.

"It is impossible" said Ron. "Dumbledore would never allow that."

Everyone at the table nodded, agreeing with Ron. Harry and Hermione looked at each other but didn't comment on that. Instead, Harry leaned forward and whispered to Hermione while Ron was distracted.

"You know, there is just too much trust for Dumbledore. This is not good" said Harry. Hermione nodded and they both looked at Dumbledore at the same time. The headmaster turned to them suddenly and gave them a grandfatherly smile, which made both of them shudder for some reason.

XxXxXxXxXxX

As soon as Hermione entered the Girls Dormitory, she was assaulted by her dorm mate.

"So is there something between you and Harry?" asked Parvati. Hermione blushed a little and nodded, knowing that there was no denying after kissing him in the Common Room. Parvati gave a loud shriek.

"Congratulations Hermione. I think you two are really cute together, right Lav?"

"If you say so" said Lavender awkwardly. Hermione blinked.

"Is there a problem Lavender?" asked the brown haired witch. She knew that Lavender would never ignore such a gossip.

"I think you shouldn't really date him Hermione" said Lavender seriously.

"Why not?"

"Hermione, didn't you hear what he said last year" said Lavender.

"What?"

"He said that he fought against You-Know-Who" said Lavender.

"And why is that a problem" said Hermione raising an eyebrow.

"He is obviously lying" said Lavender. "Everyone knows that."

"Harry is not lying" growled Hermione.

"Come on, do you really believe he fought against him" said Lavender.

"Yes, I do" said Hermione. "Why do you think he would lie about this?"

"Why? Hermione, have you lost your mind. You-Know-Who is dead, everyone knows that."

Hermione took a deep breath, trying to control her temper. She was not too close with either of her dorm mates, but she still didn't want to fight them.

"Look Lavender. No one ever saw Voldemort dying, right?" The others flinched visibly. "I know Harry, he would never tell such a lie. Why should he?"

"I don't know. Maybe he is addicted to fame and wants to be a hero again" said Lavender. Hermione's eyes were suddenly filled with fury.

"WHAT? Are you really that stupid or are you only pretending, to look cute to brainless blokes" said Hermione loudly.

"Don't insult me Granger" said Lavender.

"Then don't insult Harry. He is not a liar" screamed Hermione.

"Well, then he is crazy" screamed Lavender back.

"Are you now just taking random sentences from the Prophet" laughed Hermione sarcastically. "Come on, even you should be smart enough to build your own sentences."

"You can't talk to me like that" said Lavender.

"I can say whatever I want to anyone that insults Harry" screamed Hermione. Lavender's hand found her wand but before she could pull it out, Hermione had hers already in her hand.

"Don't" said Hermione warningly. "You already said your opinion. If you ever talk like that in front of me, I will make sure you won't be able to talk again."

"You are also crazy" said Lavender, taking a few steps back.

"Then me and Harry suit each other right?" said Hermione. She went back to her bed without saying anything else. She swore not to let anyone talk about Harry like that ever again and hoped that none of the boys would be stupid enough to accuse Harry like Lavender did.

_This chapter was really difficult to write. It has too much dialog and too little description. Before anyone asks, I skipped Umbridge's speech and Harry's argument with Seamus. Sirius already told them where Hagrid is so they are not worried for him._

_What do you think of Luna? ı know, I made her a little different. Still weird but different. I like Luna and she will probably play a bigger role in the future. I always thought Luna and Hermione would be an interesting friendship. Unfortunately, they were never really close friends in cannon. I don't think that it is impossible. They would argue a lot but I think they are both open minded enough to accept each other. _

_Don't misunderstood, this story will remain Harry/Hermione, Luna won't have any romantic relationship with Harry. (I am saying this because I know there are plenty H/Hr/L fics out there, but I dont want to write multiple pairings). Luna may have someone else, not sure yet._

_In OotP, Harry argued with Seamus and the next day, Hermione said that she had a similar argument with Lavender. There is no reason to write Harry's argument with Seamus one more time, so I wanted to write Hermione's part. _

_Harry and Hermione will start acting different than in cannon with time (Hermione already started), that doesn't mean they are OOC (At least I hope so). A lot of things happened in the summer that changed them and it will continue changing them. Harry will start thinking before acting with time._

_First meeting with Umbridge next chapter. Our main characters will act much more aggressively this time, I can say that now._

_I will try to upload sooner next time. Please review, it really helps._


	10. Chapter 10: Dolores Jane Umbridge

**A/N: Finally reached chapter ten. I am really happy with the response to this story. Please keep reviewing, it really helps.**

**Oh, and I disclaim everything besides the plot.**

**Chapter 10: Dolores Jane Umbridge**

Next morning, Harry awoke in a bad mood. He looked around and saw that everyone else were still asleep. It was already too late for Harry's new earned sleeping habits, so he stood up and took a quick shower. Afterwards, he quickly dressed up and went downstairs.

He was surprised to find the common room except a group of first years. He had hoped to find Hermione. He concluded that she probably slept longer than normal that day and decided to wait for her there before going to the Great Hall. Just as he was about to sit down, the portrait hole opened and his girlfriend entered.

"Hello Harry" said Hermione smiling and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Hello love. Where were you?" asked Harry curiously.

"Outside, running around the lake" answered Hermione. "By the way, I allowed you to sleep today, but you won't ditch our training next time."

"Wait, when did you even wake up?" asked Harry with wide eyes.

"Not sure, a little over one hour" answered Hermione.

"You should have woken me up" complained Harry.

"You can join me next time."

"Did you really run around the lake?" asked Harry.

"Well, no one is around at this hour, so it is not really a problem" answered Hermione. "I should take a quick shower and change."

"Okay, I will wait here, then we can go to Great Hall together," said Harry.

"We have to open does packages of Sirius and Remus first" reminded Hermione.

"You are right. I totally forgot about them" said Harry. "But where? They said that we should open them in private."

"I am sure we can find an empty room" said Hermione. "Then you can tell me what is bothering you on the way."

"Nothing is bothering me" argued Harry. But after seeing the look his girlfriend gave him, he relented. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?"

"I wouldn't know if you could" said Hermione simply. She gave him another short kiss and quickly run upstairs to the girl dormitory.

Twenty minutes later, she found Harry sitting on the couch with a thoughtful expression. His face brightened after he saw her.

"You have gotten faster" said Harry, taking her in his arms.

"Practice" murmured Hermione smiling and she slowly pressed her lips against his. They continued kissing happily for awhile. Fortunately, no one entered the common room while the two lovers showed their affection to each other.

"Did you have your package?" asked Hermione a little bit out of breath, after they finally separated. Harry showed her the package in his hand.

"We should probably hurry or we will be late for breakfast." said Harry. "Let's go."

Hand in hand, they left from the portrait hole. The few people that woke up early kept staring at their joined hand. Harry frowned. Even their hate towards him couldn't stop their thirst for gossip. Thankfully, Harry used the marauders map to find the closest empty room and they quickly reached a small classroom. On the way, Harry told her about the disbelief he had gotten from Seamus.

"And I thought that no one else would be that stupid" said Hermione angrily, as they entered the classroom. Harry understood what she was implying.

"Who else?" he asked in a painful tone. Hermione frowned.

"Lavender" she answered simply. "But don't worry, she won't say anything else if she values her life."

"You don't really mean it right?" asked Harry, because the look on her face was really scary while she said that.

"Okay, killing her would be too much" admitted Hermione. "But I am definitely not letting her or anyone talk bad about you."

Harry gave her an appreciative look but didn't say anything else. He knew that he also would never let anyone talk bad about Hermione in front of him. No one who wanted to keep his body one piece.

Meanwhile, Hermione opened his package. She found a short letter and a small mirror. She gave the letter to Harry and they both started reading it.

_Dear Harry (and Hermione, as we are sure that you will read this together)_

_Those mirrors are our own invention. We marauders used them to communicate with each other while we were on detention on different locations (which happened really often). We both have still ours in our possession. We charmed two new mirrors for both of you. To use them, you just have to look at the mirror and say the name of the person you wanted to communicate with. It will be connected with your magical signature after your first use. It will warm up when someone else calls you. Try it as soon as you opened the package._

_Waiting for your response_

_Padfoot and Moony_

"This is wonderful" said Hermione, her eyes shining. "This is extremely good charm work."

"Now we will be able to talk with them without worrying about letters" said Harry happily.

"Come on, try it" said Hermione eagerly.

Harry quickly took the mirror and held it in front of his face. "Sirius Black" he called clearly. They waited for a whole minute without any response.

"Why doesn't it work?" asked Harry disappointedly.

"Try Remus" said Hermione. Harry did as she said and after ten seconds, the smiling face of Remus appeared on the mirror.

"Hello guys" said Remus.

"Hello" they said in unison.

"And, what did you think of the mirrors?" asked Remus.

"They are great" said Harry

"How did you even make them?" asked Hermione.

"It took a lot of work, I am telling you. But it was worth" said Remus. "I can show you our notes next time, if you are interested."

Hermione nodded happily with a wide smile, making both Remus and Harry laugh.

"Where is Padfoot?" asked Harry. "We tried to call him but it didn't work."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"That idiot is probably still sleeping" said Remus. "PADFOOT, you stupid dog, come down here."

Harry and Hermione heard another voice screaming something unrecognizable. Remus rolled his eyes again.

"No use, he won't wake up."

"Don't worry. We had the pleasure to learn about his sleeping habits" said Harry snorting.

"He could really rival Ronald" said Hermione nodding.

"Anyway, we should go now or we will be late" said Harry.

"I didn't think you would hurry this much to be early for lessons Harry" said Remus smiling. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"He is not hurrying for our lesson, he is hurrying for breakfast" she said grinning. Harry gave her a mock glare that made the others laugh even more.

"Okay, call us again when you have time. You don't have any problems, do you?" asked Remus.

"Nothing besides a few idiotic friends that decided to believe the Prophet instead of using common sense" said Harry.

"Don't worry about them. They will realize the truth soon" said Remus.

"You are probably right "said Harry sighning.

They said goodbye to Remus and they left to join breakfast after a quick visit to Gryffindor tower to put the mirror in Harry's trunk. Harry found that his roommates already left. Hand in hand, they went to the Great Hall.

When they entered the Great Hall, most of the students suddenly stopped talking and stared at them much to their dismay. Refusing to separate hand, they stubbornly avoided everyones eyes and joined their friends at the Gryffindor table. Hermione met Luna's eyes at the Ravenclaw table. The blond girl gave her a smile and waved. Hermione ignored her weird clothing and waved back.

"Where the bloody hell, were you guys?" asked Ron as soon as they sat down.

"We had a few things to do" said Hermione simply, indicating that they would tell him more in private. He nodded. Unfortunately, everyone else assumed that they were snogging in an empty broom closet.

A long, black haired girl approached them before anyone else could make them feel even more uncomfortable.

"Hi Harry"

"Hi Angelina" said Harry to his teammate.

"I just wanted to tell you that McGonagall made me the new Quidditch captain" said Angelina.

"This is great" said Harry, assuming that Angelina couldn't be as strict as Oliver Wood.

"But with Oliver gone, we will need a new keeper" said Angelina. "We will choose a new keeper Friday at five, and I want the whole team there."

"Don't worry" said Harry. She smiled and left.

"I wonder if I could try for the position" said Ron suddenly. As everyone stared at him, his ears went red. "Well, I could try, right?

"Of course, it would be great. Are you any good?" asked Harry.

"I think I would manage" said Ron, happy that no one laughed at him. Meanwhile, McGonagall started giving the students their new schedules.

"This is awful" said Ron.

"For once, I agree with you" said Hermione, staring at her schedule.

"History, double potions, divination and double Defense. Who the hell made those schedules" complained Harry.

"Binns, Snape, Trelawney and that toad woman at the same bloody day. This is awful" said Ron.

"Stop complaining Mr. Weasley" said McGonagall, who was just behind him. Ron went red again.

"I am sorry Professor" he murmured.

"Anyway, I have to talk with you three. Please come to my office after your lessons."

They nodded and she left them, continuing giving each student their schedules.

"Well, I will at least avoid Trelawney" said Hermione.

"Lucky you" said Ron.

"I wonder how that Umbridge woman gives her lesson?" asked Harry.

"I have a really bad feeling about that woman" said Neville, who was sitting quietly next to Ron.

"That woman is creepy" agreed Ron.

"You would know anything about that Weezie" came a sarcastic voice. Harry turned around and of course, he found Draco Malfoy and his goons grinning stupidly.

"What do you want Malfoy" said Harry rudely.

"Nothing from you losers" said Malfoy.

"Then you can leave. We won't hold you back" said Ron.

"Holding hands with a mudblood Potter. And here I thought you had class. Actually, no, that was a lie. I never thought that."

"Sod of Malfoy" said Ron angrily.

"Oh, let him guys, he is right." said Hermione, smiling evilly. "Harry should have followed Malfoy's example and found himself two beauties like Crabbe and Goyle. To further your advice, how many times do you guys snog per day Malfoy?"

Everyone on the Gryffindor table laughed while Malfoy's face went red. Crabbe and Goyle's expression didn't change, probably because they didn't understand what she was talking about.

"Shut up mudblood" said Malfoy and his hand found his wand. "Don't you dare talk to me like that."

But before he could even pull out his wand, Harry was facing him and he had his wand already in his hand.

"No, don't you dare talk with her like that" said Harry. "I know you are too stupid to actually understand but try to follow. Find yourself another hobby and don't mess with us. If you insult Hermione ever again, you will definitely regret it."

Malfoy tried to look defiant but his eyes were on Harry's wand and were filled with fear. He sneered after a few seconds and left, his goons following him.

"That was great mate" said Ron, giving him a thumbs up.

"Since when are you talking like that Hermione?" asked Neville with admiration in his eyes.

"Like what?" asked Hermione, raising her eyebrows. Neville blushed.

"Well, you are normally the one that tell everyone to ignore them, right?"

"I am not going to let that arrogant prat do as he pleases" said Hermione angrily.

"Don't worry, you will get used to it soon" said Harry to Neville grinning.

"You know, we will have to find a place to continue our magical training" said Hermione, without even looking back at Malfoy.

"We can ask Sirius" whispered Harry back and she nodded.

"I wonder if Malfoy will ever learn not to mess with us?" asked Hermione loudly. The other three shook their heads negatively.

XxXxXxXxX

Albus Dumbledore was a man that was used to get his way. He usually just acted like he would listen and at the end, everyone would just agree with whatever he said. But lately, no one seemed listen to him.

Minerva just was the last example of this. Even thought he told her that he thought that it would be the best for young Harry not to be a prefect, she still protested to him. Loudly. He tried to insist but at the end, she told her that it was the decision of the Head of House and stormed out of his office.

It wasn't actually that bad. Sure, he had hoped to isolate Harry a little from his friends and especially from Miss Granger, but it wasn't really that important. Problem was the fact that Minerva didn't listen to him, even after he made perfectly clear that he was against it.

That was not good. There were a lot of things that they couldn't understand. For the sake of the Greater Good, they shouldn't disagree with him. Arguing with each other would just help Voldemort, he knew that. He just hoped that everyone would stop arguing with him soon and start doing what he said.

For now, he would let Minerva do what she wants. It would be good to gain the lads trust back. He had already new plans to get them to his side, he just needed time and no one could say that Albus Dumbledore was anything but patient.

XxXxXxXxXxX

History lesson had still his historical teacher Binns so it was not a surprise that it was as boring as always.

For Hermione's sake, Harry desperately tried to listen to his speech. After half hours, he decided that this lesson could have been interesting if it had a different Professor. Still, he didn't understand one word and after giving his girlfriend an apologetic look, he gave up and started drawing pictures on an empty parchment. Next to him, Ron was already sleeping. Hermione gave him a dirty look but smiled after a few seconds.

"At least you tried" she murmured and kept following the lesson as the only one that could stay awake in that lesson.

"One down, three more to go" declared Ron after they left the classroom.

"It is not like you actually listened Ronald" said Hermione.

"It was painful enough" said Ron.

"I will like to see you doing the same in Snape's lesson" said Hermione grinning.

"He would probably drown him in my cauldron and take points from me for killing him" said Harry. Ron and Hermione laughed.

"I just hope he won't make us brew something too complicated" said Ron.

XxXxXxXxX

Ron's hopes were in vain. After giving a really 'encouraging' speech about OWLs, he ordered them to brew a Calming Draught, which was the most complicated potion they ever had to make – not counting Polyjuice, which Hermione brewed in their second year-.

With Hermione's encouragement, Harry did try to study for Potions in the summer. Still, it was really difficult and he could see that even Hermione was struggling to make her potion perfect.

He looked up from her cauldron and saw Snape staring at him. Before he could look away, he felt a slight mental tickle in his mind and quickly strengthened his mental barriers. Snape looked surprised for just a few seconds but then, much to Harry's surprise, a small smile formed on his lips for just a moment before he looked away.

"Did he just…?" asked Hermione, who saw the display.

"Don't know" said Harry shrugging and went back to his potion.

At the end of the lesson, Harry was happy with his results. It wasn't exactly as it should be but it was really close. Not surprisingly, Hermione's Potion was exactly how it should be but Harry noticed with a bit satisfaction that his potion was clearly the second best, which was definitely a first for this lesson. Beside him, Hermione gave him an encouraging smile.

Snape walked around the classroom, once again, not bothering to keep himself from making a few snark comments to the Gryffindors. As he reached their table, he gave a loud sneer to Ron and Neville. He completely ignored Hermione's potion, which meant that he couldn't find any fault. He then looked at Harry's cauldron, he raised his eyebrows for a few seconds. Shocking everyone, he didn't say anything to Harry and just continued his inspection.

"What was wrong with Snape?" asked Harry as soon as they were far enough from the class room.

"He is more creepy when is not rude to you" said Ron.

"Well, maybe he thought that your potion was good enough" said Hermione. But she didn't sound convinced herself.

"It doesn't sound like him. My potion was obviously not perfect and it is normally enough for him to attack me" said Harry.

"You are right. There was definitely something different with him" admitted Hermione. Then she suddenly grinned. "Well, I must go. Have fun with Trelawney."

The boys glared at her while she waved happily and run away.

"We should have followed her example and quit that class" said Ron, just like he always did whenever Hermione wasn't around. They forced themselves to go to the Divination class, readying themselves to endure another meaningless hour with Trelawney.

XxXxXxXxX

After finding explanations for a few imaginary dreams and getting homework to find imaginary explanations for more imaginary dreams, the boys met Hermione in the Defense classroom.

"Hi, Hermione" said Harry, as they met her in front of the classroom. She smiled and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Hi, love. Hi, Ron. Did you have fun in divination?" she asked innocently.

"Of course. Best time of my life" said Ron sarcastically. She laughed and they took seat at the middle of the classroom.

"Good afternoon students" said Umbridge in a sweet voice, that made all of them feel sick. A few of the students answered with a barely audible "good afternoon" but most of them just kept staring.

"Not good enough. I want you to answer me loud and clearly. Let's try again. Good Afternoon students."

"Good afternoon Professor Umbridge" chorused throughout the classroom. But none of the trio said anything and Hermione even rolled her eyes, not bothering to hide it.

"You can put away your wands. You will only need your books today" continued Umbridge.

The class tried not to groan. They were all sure that a Defense class without wands couldn't be anything but boring.

After making them write a few meaningless things about Defense, she told them to open their books.

"I know you had a lot of incompetent teachers for this class, even a dangerous halfblood."

"Professor Lupin was one of our best-" started Dean.

"If a student wants to talk in my class, he has to take permission first" said Umbridge. "As I was saying, you had a lot of incompetent teachers for this class. I will of course, bring you to the level the Ministry wants you to be."

"How refreshing" whispered Harry to Hermione.

"Now, open the first chapter in your books and start reading" said Umbridge and sat down. The class unhappily followed her instructions.

Harry quickly decided that whoever wrote this book, could give Binns a run for his money. It was the most boring book he ever read and he found a lot of nonsense at the first few sentences of the book. He frowned and looked at the others. Ron was just staring at one point of the page and Hermione didn't even open her books. It was the first time he saw Hermione not reading a book in front of her and he gave her a questioning look. She just shrugged and kept staring at Umbridge.

"Do you have a question Miss-?" asked Umbridge.

"Granger and yes, I have a question Professor. This book has nothing about actually performing spells or actual defense."

"Miss Granger, why would you think you would need to defend yourself in this classroom?" said Umbridge sweetly.

"We will not going to learn how to defend ourselves?" asked Harry loudly.

"You have to ask for permission, Mr.-" said Umbridge smiling.

"Potter and don't act like you don't know it" said Harry angrily.

"I am a Professor Mr. Potter and you can't talk to me like that. You just have to read your books carefully. Yes Miss-"

"Patil. Don't we have a practical exam in our OWLs?" asked Parvati.

"You can perform the practical magic if you just read careful enough" said Umbridge.

"Are we going to-" started Ron.

"ENOUGH" shrilled Umbridge. "I don't want any of you to question my authority. Now, keep reading."

The class went to their books but Hermione ignored her request.

"How are we going to defend ourselves in a dangerous situation?" she asked, with a hint of sarcasm.

"What danger?" she said a bit too loudly. "Miss Granger, I don't know what kind of danger you expect, but I assure you, no one would ever attack children like you."

Hermione suddenly understood what Umbridge was trying to do. She tried to stop Harry from saying anything but she was too late.

"I also can't imagine anyone attacking us Professor. Oh, now I remember someone, what was his name again? I think it was Lord Voldemort" said Harry standing up.

Hermione groaned, while everyone in the classroom just stared at Harry. Umbridge once again had her sickening smile and walked to Harry.

"The dark wizard you are talking about is dead Mr. Potter." said Umbridge.

"He isn't, I saw him" said Harry angrily.

"Detention Mr. Potter" said Umbridge. "Now, let's try again. That particular Dark Wizard you are talking about is dead and no one can come back from the death."

"Which dark wizard?`" asked Hermione suddenly.

"What?" said Umbridge rudely.

"Which dark wizard?" repeated Hermione.

"Miss Granger, aren't you perhaps following our conversation or was it just too complicated for you?" asked Umbridge smiling.

"Oh no Professor Umbridge, I was actually following your conversation. Harry was talking about Voldemort but I didn't hear you saying anything about him."

"What is your point dear?" asked Umbridge who was barely containing her anger. She was getting irritated because of the repeated use of the Dark Lords name.

"I am just saying that you are still avoiding to say Voldemort's name" said Hermione, purposefully using the name. "Why would you be scared of his name if he is really dead?"  
Umbridge looked at her with obvious hate in her eyes while the brown haired witch smiled politely. It took her nearly a minute to calm herself and find a suitable answer.

"Miss Granger, I heard that you liked to act smart but you are obviously just seeking for attention. Are you saying that you believe in that boy?"

Hermione knew that it was a trap but there was no way for her to do something else. She nodded.

"Well, for your argument earlier, that boy says that the Dark Wizard is back but still keeps saying his name. Isn't that exactly opposite of what you said earlier?" said Umbridge, who was sure of her triumph. Hermione returned her smile.

"I am sorry Professor Umbridge, but the reason that he using his name has a different reason" said Hermione.

"What do you think is that?" asked Umbridge.

"He is not a coward" said Hermione.

The smile vanished from Umbridge's face. She looked like she was hit physically by Hermione.

"DETENTION MISS GRANGER" she pretty much screamed. "I will teach you to respect your betters. Now go back to your books."

Hermione just nodded and sat down, but Harry wasn't finished.

"How do you think that Cedric Diggory died last year?" said Harry, shaking with anger.

"Cedric Diggory's dead was a tragic accident" said Umbridge.

"It was murder and you know it" said Harry loudly.

"ENOUGH" screamed Umbridge. "I won't tolerate any more interruptions in my lesson. Mr. Potter and Miss Granger, please come forward."

They stood up, both glaring at the toad like woman. She quickly wrote something on a parchment and gave it to them.

"Bring this to your Head of House." said Umbridge.

"Now?" asked Hermione.

"Of course" said Umbridge. "Is there a problem with that?"

"I am just sorry that we have to skip such an important class" said Harry sarcastically and they left the classroom.

XxXxXxXxX

They didn't talk much as they walked to McGonagall's office. Harry was too angry and was shaking while Hermione was deep in thoughts.

"Tragic accident she says" said Harry angrily. "Her birth was a tragic accident. I hope she would meet an accident soon but it wouldn't be tragic."

Hermione wholeheartedly agreed with him but didn't comment, letting him take of steam. Harry was still fuming as they finally reached the office. Hermione knocked at the door.

"Good afternoon Professor" said Hermione.

"Miss Granger? Mr. Potter? You two are early. Don't you have to be in class?"

"Umbridge sent us" growled Harry.

"Send you? What do you mean, she sent you?"

He gave her the piece of parchment in her hand. She quickly scanned it and glared at them.

"Did you two really have an argument with Professor Umbridge?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes" said Harry.

"Did you call her a liar?"

"I am surprised that she managed to get the hidden message" said Harry sarcastically. McGonagall ignores his comment.

"And did you call her a coward?" she asked to Hermione.

"Well, not really. At least not directly" answered Hermione truthfully.

"Well this parchment says that you have detention for the whole week" said McGonagall.

"What? But Professor, Quidditch-" started Harry.

"Don't even try Potter. She is your teacher and she has the right to do this" said McGonagall. "Now, I have to say, I expected better of you two. Especially you Miss Granger."

"With all respect Professor, but she obviously has ulterior motives for teaching here" said Hermione surprising her Head of House. "You can't expect Harry or me to just sit there while she insults everything we believe" said Hermione. McGonagall frowned.

"That may be true, but you can't act careless in front of her" said McGonagall. "She is from the Ministry so you should know what she can and can't do."

They both nodded, not bothering to repeat their observations.

"Now, this actually makes me think about what I wanted ask you two?" said McGonagall.  
"What is it Professor?" asked Hermione.

"I wanted to ask you two to become Gryffindor prefects" said McGonagall with a tiny smile.

Hermione smiled while Harry looked confused. He had already accepted that he wasn't a Prefect and that was definitely a surprise for him.

"If Harry accepts, then I would love to do that Professor" said Hermione beaming.

"Well, I should probably apologize for not making you Prefect at the first place Mr. Potter. Let's just say I had a lot of outside influence but it is all good now."

"Thank you Professor" said Harry.

"I will give your badges tomorrow. It wouldn't look good if I give them after a Professor send you to my office. I trust you and I hope that you won't disappoint me."

"Yes Professor" they said in unison.

"What about Ron's parents?" asked Harry. "His mum would bite his head off if she hears that."

"I am sure she will be proud of her son for what he did" answered the Transfiguration Professor. After what happened that summer, they actually doubted that but didn't object. They excused and stood up to leave.

"And by the way" said McGonagall. "Am I right to assume that your relation with each other is a little different now?"

Hermione blushed a little and nodded.

"Well, congratulations. But let me give you an advice. Don't show your relation in front of Dolores Umbridge."

XxXxXxXxX

"I am sorry that you got detention because of me" said Harry as they walked towards the Great Hall.

"It wasn't your fault" said Hermione quickly. "I started it by asking a meaningless question at the first place. I shouldn't have talked with her."

"You can't just not ask questions" said Harry grinning. "You would explode.§

"Prat" said Hermione and punched him lightly.

"We have to do something about Umbridge" said Harry. "We can't even train as long as she is in the castle."

"Well, she has ministry protection so I doubt Dumbledore would be able to do anything" said Hermione.

"You are right. We have to force Fudge to take her from Hogwarts himself" said Harry. Hermione suddenly went silent. Harry knew her better than anyone else and knew that she was thinking about something. She suddenly smiled after a few minutes.

"What is it?" asked Harry, knowing that she had an idea.

"I think I have an idea" said Hermione.

"Tell me" said Harry impatiently.

"Just wait until our detention" said Hermione with an evil smile. "If she does what I think she will then she will regret that she ever came to Hogwarts."

_That was it. I know I said I would avoid repeating what happened in the original book but it was unavoidable in this chapter. Next time, revenge on Umbridge. But I am not sure if she should just go down easily. What do you think? Should she remain and cause even more problems or should she go down soon? And what do you think Hermione's plan is? Try to guess._

_I now that Hermione is acting different, but let me remind you something. She lost a lot of respect for the authority with Dumbledore in this story. I don't think that she is out of character. This is the same girl that slapped Malfoy, started banging at Hagrid's door, attacked Rita Skeeter etc. I don't want to make her reckless, but she can be as hot headed as the other two._

_I had to remove two scenes from this chapter. One with Luna and one with Ginny. I will try to put those parts in the next chapter._

_Please review. It really helps._


	11. Chapter 11: Getting rid of Umbridge

_I am really sorry for not writing for so long. I actually don't want to have more than one week between chapters but I had visitors since three weeks and couldn't write._

_There were a lot of reviews for the last chapter and I actually wanted to answer all of it but didn't have time. Just ask if you have any questions about the story and I will try to answer them as good as I can. _

_I hope you will like this chapter. I didn't have much time today but didn't want to wait any longer so there can be some spelling mistakes. I will try to correct them as soon as possible. _

**Chapter 11: Getting rid of Umbridge**

"Come in" came a girly voice from the other side of the door. The young couple sighed.

"You have to stay calm Harry" reminded Hermione before opening the door. "Remember, don't let her provoke you."

"I know" said Harry with a hint of anger in his voice. Hermione knew that he didn't like her constant warnings but she also knew that Umbridge could get easily under Harry's skin if they act careless. After giving her boyfriend one sharp look, she opened the door.

"Hello Mr. Potter. Miss Granger" said the pink monster sweetly. They both decided at once that she was even more unbearable when she tried to act nice.

The room was representing its owner pretty effectively. Harry thought that no one could make this room worse than Gilderoy Lockhart did but he was obviously wrong. While she thankfully didn't have her own portraits like Lockhart, the room was full of magical cat pictures and it was just screaming sickening sweetness. He didn't know which was worse: Looking at the room or looking at the ugly Professor.

"Please, have a seat" said Umbridge. "Now, I am sure you remember why I brought you two here?"

'_Maybe because no one can stand looking at you if you don't force them and you need company'_ thought Harry. Fortunately, he was smart enough to not say it out loud.

"What do you want us to do?" asked Hermione with an emotionless voice.

"Simple" said Umbridge. "You made mistakes and I think the best way to teach something is to repeat it until you learn it."

'_That's bullshit'_ thought Harry. He could that Hermione thought exactly the same thing but they remained silent.

"For that reason, I want you both to write sentences" finished Umbridge, who looked dissatisfied at their lack of reaction.

"What sentence?" asked Harry, trying to control his emotions.

"You will write: _'I must never tell lies'_ Mr. Potter" said Umbridge with her girly voice. "I think that this will teach you not to cause panic by telling lies about reincarnated Dark Lords."

Harry's face went a little red and was about to retort when he felt Hermione's hand over his. She gave him a warning look and shook her head.

"How many times?" asked Harry after taking a deep breath.

"Until you get the message of course" said Umbridge, who didn't notice the exchange between the teens.

"What should I write?" asked Hermione. Even she couldn't keep the rude tone out of her voice.

"Let me think about it. I heard that your parents are muggles Miss Granger, is that correct?" said Umbridge. Harry's eyes widened. He could see that this wasn't going to be good.

"Yes, they are both non magical" said Hermione with a challenging tone. "Why would you ask?"

"No reason" said Umbridge with her sickening smile widening. "You will write: _'I shall respect my betters'_

Hermione's face went pale. She gritted her teeth and her eyes filled with anger. Harry himself was barely containing himself.

"What?" said Hermione loudly.

"Is there a problem Miss Granger?" asked Umbridge looking her in the eyes. Hermione was shaking with fury and bit her lip not to say anything. Harry couldn't contain himself anymore and stood up angrily. He opened his mouth to scream some insults and a few good hexes at the ugly Professor. But before he could say one word, Hermione also stood up and forced him to sit down again.

"IS there a problem?" repeated Umbridge.

"No Professor" said Hermione forcefully. Harry looked at her questioningly. She looked calm again and had a sneaky gleam in her eyes. Harry didn't know why, but he could swear that she was amused for some reason.

"Well then, you can start now" said their excuse of a Professor.

"We didn't bring any quills" said Harry, staring at the empty parchments. He knew that he couldn't stay calm if he looked at the giant toad.

"Don't worry Mr. Potter, I have quills for you" said Umbridge. She pulled two quills out of her pocket and gave it to them. Harry got suspicious at the look on her face and decided to let it go.

"You won't need any ink" continued Umbridge.

"These are blood quills, aren't they?" said Hermione accusingly. Umbridge looked surprised that she knew what it is while Harry looked confused.

"What is a blood quill?" asked Harry.

"A quill that writes with blood of the user" answered Hermione, her eyes still on Umbridge. "It was used to sign contracts but its use is illegal since years, especially on minors."

"I am the Undersecretary to Minister of Magic Granger" said Umbridge. "I know better what is legal and what is illegal so please keep your nose out of other peoples business."

Hermione kept glaring at her for a few seconds and then shrugged.

"If you say so" said Hermione.

"I'll be sitting here. Now begin" said Umbridge and went to the other side of the small room. Harry carefully started writing. Seconds later, he winced as he felt pain at the backside of his hand. He saw the words appearing on his hand but before he could look carefully, the words disappeared, leaving only redness on his skin.

"Are you sure that you want to do that?" whispered Harry to his girlfriend. He could see that she already wrote the first sentence and felt the same pain.

"We have to, at least for today" answered Hermione. "Don't worry, she will regret it soon."

"If you say so" said Harry with a small smile. He knew her better than anyone else and could see that she was planning something.

He almost felt sorry for Umbridge. Almost.

XxXxXxXxX

"That sadistic, lying bitch" fumed Harry as soon as they left her room.

"Language love" said Hermione with a small smile. But then her smile disappeared. "Are you okay? I am sorry that I forced you to endure this."

"Don't worry about me" said Harry dismissively. He took her hand kissed the red spot softly. "I just hate to see you hurt."

"She won't be able to hurt any of us soon" said Hermione with a dark smile. "Let's go back to the Common Room, I am sure Ron is worrying sick at the moment."

"About that" said Harry. "Could we keep this a secret?"

"Why?" asked Hermione, looking confused.

"I don't want anyone's mercy" said Harry, hoping that she would understand. "Please, let's don't tell anyone, okay?"

"No!" said Hermione forcefully. "We won't keep this a secret. Why would we do that?"

"I don't want to look weak in front of Umbitch. I don't want to give her the satisfaction of hurting me" said Harry. Hermione frowned.

"Of course, why didn't I think of that" said Hermione sarcastically. "We also shouldn't do anything against Umbridge. I mean, that would make us look weak right, we should just do what she says, that will show her how strong we are."  
"Hermione, stop" said Harry.

"And while we are at it, we should do the same about Voldemort. We shouldn't tell anyone anything. Because it would make us look weak in front of the strongest Dark Lord of the century. We will confront him and all his Death Eaters alone."

"Hermione-" said Harry, his anger starting to rise. His girlfriend ignored him.

"Oh, and we should leave our wands at home. If we cast any spell against them, that would make us look weak, right?"

"STOP IT" exploded Harry.

"NOT UNTIL YOU GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ARSE" screamed Hermione back. "It is not always your fault Harry, you don't have to take the blame for everything."

"What are you trying to say?" asked Harry, who tried to control his voice. He knew that she was trying to help him and he didn't want a repeat of last summer.

"Look Harry" said Hermione softly. "I know why you are acting like this. I know that you grew up with those believes because of those damn Dursleys."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the anger on her face. She took a deep breath to calm herself and continued.

"You don't have to do everything alone Harry" said Hermione. "I will always be with you. Don't try to shut me or anyone else out. No one is going to laugh at you, if they do, then they are not your real friends. Umbridge can only win if you hide from everyone and let her do what she wants. We won't hide and we will fight back."

"But-" started Harry, but before he could argue any further, Hermione grabbed him and pulled him in to a passionate kiss. The kiss quickly turned into a snog as they forgot everything around them.

Harry didn't know how long they kept snogging at the middle of the hallway but he felt dazed after they finally broke apart. As he looked at her smiling face, she couldn't help but grin goofily.

"I love you" said Harry.

"I love you too" said Hermione. "Now come on, we have to work on our revenge plan and I have to send a letter."

"It is strange that you want to talk about revenge right after snogging" said Harry laughing.

"Prat" said Hermione.

"Wait, you didn't even tell me what you planned" said Harry suddenly.

"Well, I probably shouldn't talk it after snogging with you right?" said Hermione with a sneaky smile.

"You wouldn't" said Harry.

"Oh, I definitely would" said Hermione laughing and started running. Harry was forced to run after her frowning but he still had a smile on his face.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Luna was walking slowly to the Ravenclaw dorm. She was deep in thoughts as her wide eyes wandered freely without actually seeing anything. She was used to being avoided by now so she didn't really look for anyone. She stopped her thoughts as she saw a familiar redhead.

"Hey Ginny" said Luna. The girl in question turned around and saw the young Ravenclaw. Luna noticed that she tried to hide something as she approached her.

"Hi Luna" said Ginny smiling. "What are you doing here, it is nearly past curfew."

"Why, I am going to our dorm of course" said Luna. "How are you?"

"I am fine" said Ginny. Her expression was sincere, but Luna could still see that something was wrong with the redhead.

"You do look nervous" said Luna looking her in the eyes. "Are you going to brew a potion?"

"W- What?" asked Ginny.

"You have potion ingredients in your hands." said Luna, pointing at her back. "Where did you even get those?"

"It's- It is none of your business Luna" snapped Ginny. "Look, I have to go now, you should probably hurry as well."

With that, she quickly left the young blond alone. Luna's smile faded just a little as she looked at the only one that considered her a friend. After a few seconds, she shrugged and continued with her thoughts, ignoring the glares that she got from Cho Chang and her friends.

XxXxXxXxX

"Look, it is not that hard" said Hermione, who was slowly getting sick of explaining the same thing. "The Daily Prophet will write an article about the illegal things that Umbridge did. That's all. You don't have to know how we'll do it, but this is the plan."

The Gryffindors were sitting in the Common Room, discussing their favorite toad. As they entered the Common Room, Harry and Hermione expected to find Ron waiting for them but instead, they not only found Ron, but also Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Neville and Dean waiting for them.

"Do you really think that it will work? Fudge will still protect her, won't he?" asked Angelina to Hermione. She was ignoring Harry, because she was angry at him for missing the Quidditch practice on Friday.

"Fudge is a politician" said Harry. "I don't think he would like to see his name with a child abuser."

"I still think that we should consider my plan" said Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I don't think petrifying her in the hallway and beating her up will solve any of our problems Ron."

"It would solve some problems" argued Fred.

"Okay, it probably would but would also cause more problems." said Hermione. "We will go with our plan if you all agree."

"Our plan?" said Harry, rising his eyebrows. "You told it to me just five minutes ago."

"I wanted to make sure that she actually does something illegal before telling you" said Hermione shrugging. "That stupid cow thought that she could deceive us by saying that blood quills aren't illegal."

"How did you know that she would use something illegal like Blood Quill anyway?" asked Neville.

"I didn't know" admitted Hermione. "I just thought that she was most likely a pureblood bigot and was sure that she wouldn't be able to hold back from insulting muggles and muggleborns. It went actually much better than I thought."

"Even if the Daily Prophet wrote about her bigotry, wouldn't everyone just ignore it?" asked Ron. "The magical world is mostly against Muggles and Muggleborns. I mean, look at Malfoy."

"Because Ronnie, your statement is totally wrong." said Fred. "No matter how they act, there are much more muggleborns and halfbloods than purebloods in the Wizarding World."

"That is true" agreed George. "The purebloods are controlling most of the power while keeping the others ignorant. Even the worse of the purebloods wouldn't announce himself as Muggle hater in public."

"What about Malfoy then?" asked Neville.

"He is an idiot" said Harry. "He thinks that the others couldn't hurt him because of his blood status."

"Nearly the half of the real pureblood students at Hogwarts are Weasley's." said Fred grinning. "If the purebloods at Hogwarts ever tried a fight against the others, they would be literally destroyed and the same is true for the whole wizarding world."

"This is why they follow someone like Voldemort in the first place" said Hermione. "They need a powerful leader in order to reach their goals."

"What about the teachers?" asked Harry thoughtfully. "I wonder how many of them are actual purebloods?"

"I am sure most of them have at least one Muggle in their families" said Dean. "And if it isn't true, I doubt that any of them is actually a pureblood bigot. Besides Umbridge of course."

"And Snape" said Ron.

"We never saw him saying anything about Blood status" reminded Hermione.

"But isn't it obvious? He is like the teacher version of Malfoy" said Ron.

"We don't know that" said Hermione. "He hates Gryffindors as far as we know. I never heard him talking about blood status."

"Besides, Si- I mean Remus mentioned that Snape was a half blood, if I remember correctly" said Harry.

"I never heard of someone with the name Snape in the Wizarding World besides him" said Neville. "I don't think that he is a pureblood. His father side is most likely muggle."

"Then he is a half blood or a muggleborn" concluded Dean.

"He can't be a muggleborn" said Hermione. "There was no muggleborn Slytherin since over fifty years."

No one bothered to ask her where she got that information.

"Even if he is a half blood, that doesn't stop him from being a bigot. He might be a half blood, but he was probably the pampered prince of his family and was raised with the same beliefs. He probably hated his muggle father."

Hermione didn't want to continue with this but she didn't agree with Ron's statement. Dumbledore said that Snape was a master Occlumence and she knew that a lonely childhood was one of the things that made a person good at that discipline.

"Why don't we go to Dumbledore?" asked Neville suddenly. "He would stop Umbridge right?"

"No!" said Harry firmly.

"But he would definitely help us" said Ron.

"No!" said Hermione this time.

"Look guys, you asked us if we have a plan and we told it" said Harry, trying to control his anger. "We won't go to Dumbledore, we will stick to the plan. You can help us or leave, either is fine."

"Calm down, we are with you mate" said Ron.

"But why do you think that the Prophet would believe and publish this?" asked Dean again.

"That one is our own business" said Hermione. "We will deal with this tomorrow in our detention."

"You know if this works, then it will be even better than the time you punched Malfoy in the face" said Ron grinning.

"What?" asked Hermione confused.

"You actually punched Malfoy?" asked Neville with awe in his voice.

"No" said Hermione.

"Yes you did. In our third year" said Harry. "Right on his nose."

"No, I didn't" said Hermione again. "It was a slap, not a punch."

"I clearly remember that it was a punch" said Ron.

"Me too" said Harry.

"Well, you remember wrong" said Hermione angrily. "Anyway, be here tomorrow if you want to know if our works or not. Now if you excuse me, cutting my own hand was pretty tiring and I want to go sleeping."

She kissed Harry, ignoring the knowing looks and wolf whistles from the others and went to the Girls Dormitory.

XxXxXxXxX

Next day, after their soon to be regular work outs and taking a shower, they found another empty classroom and put their privacy charms around it. They continued with their magical training for a short while. Since they couldn't do anything extreme until they found a better room, they only worked on their accuracy for half an hour.

Afterwards, Harry pulled out his communication mirror and called _"Remus Lupin_". After a few seconds, the werewolves face appeared on his mirror.

"Hi guys" said Remus smiling.

"Hi Remus" said the teens together. They heard running from the other side and Sirius Black's face appeared next to Remus.

"I am disappointed" said Sirius with a mock hurt in his face. "I helped you guys so much and you once again call Moony instead of me. Especially you Harry, you are my godson."

"We just didn't want to waste time by waiting for you to wake up again" said Harry grinning.

"Ouch" said Sirius.

"Anyway, is there a problem?" asked Remus.

Harry and Hermione told them everything about their first day and Umbridge, including their plan to get rid of her.

"Do you know anything about her?" asked Harry, after they finished their tale.

"From what you said, she sounds like a stupid bigot, but I am pretty sure that she is not a Death Eater."

"I heard of her" said Remus slowly. "That lady has problems with werewolves and any other half creatures. Two years ago, she made a law that made giving a job to a werewolf illegal."

Harry didn't think that there was a way for him to hate Umbridge even more, but he now saw that he was wrong. It was getting harder and harder to stick to the plan and not just go and hex her to oblivion.

"What was the illegal thing she did anyway?" asked Sirius. The teens looked at each other. They purposefully avoided telling them about the details of their detention before. Harry took a deep breath and told them about the Blood Quills.

"That's it." screamed Sirius. "I am coming to Hogwarts right now and I am going to kill that bitch."

He actually stood up to leave but Remus grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Shut up Padfoot" said Remus. "You are not leaving this house. I will go there and deal with her."

"No, you won't" said Hermione angrily. "We know how to deal with her without getting any of us in trouble."

"We are not going to lose any of you over that woman" said Harry firmly. "How is your research for Pettigrew going Sirius?"

"Not good" said Sirius frowning. "That rat is not easy to find."

"We will help you as best as we can" said Harry reassuringly. In the summer, they talked about how to clear his godfathers name and concluded that the only way to clear his name was to deliver Pettigrew. Truth serum or anything of that kind wouldn't work, because they knew that Fudge wouldn't arrange a trial for Sirius Black and would just sentence him to Dementor's kiss.

"We will have to go or the others will get suspicious" said Hermione after they talked a little more.

"Just be careful okay" said Sirius.

"Don't worry" said Harry. "Goodbye guys, we will call as soon as we are finished. By the way Remus, if we successfully get rid of Umbridge, we will recommend Dumbledore to bring you back as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Wait, what? You can't just-" started Remus.

"Bye" said Harry and Hermione grinning and closed the mirror before he could argue any further.

XxXxXxXxX

"Isn't that Luna?" asked Hermione. They were eating their breakfast, while ignoring the question of the other curious Gryffindors.

"Yes, why?" said Harry, looking at the Ravenclaw table.

"Why is she sitting so far away from the others?" asked Hermione. "Yesterday was the same but I thought she just wanted to sit alone but now I think that there is a problem."

"Do you know anything Ginny?" asked Harry to the redheaded girl that was sitting next to Ron.

"Luna is a little strange" said Ginny frowning. "She never said anything about it but I think that the others are bullying her from time to time. She is actually a sweet girl but a little weird."

"Well, I agree. She is a nice girl and she shouldn't have to eat alone" said Hermione firmly and stood up. Harry quickly caught up with her, ignoring the curious glances of the others.

"Are you going to invite her to our table?" asked Harry.

"Yes" said Hermione simply.

"It is a great idea but is it even allowed?" asked Harry.

"Parvati sat with her twin Padma in our first year a lot of times. I don't think that it will be a problem." whispered Hermione back. "Hi Luna."

"Oh, hello Hermione Granger. Harry Potter" said Luna. "Do you need anything?"

"We wanted to ask you if you would like to sit with us Luna?" asked Hermione. Luna blinked.

"Why?"

"Because we are friends Luna and we would be happy if you could sit with us," said Harry. Luna looked at their faces for awhile before smiling.

"I don't think that your friends at the Gryffindor table would be happy to sit with me" said Luna. "But thanks for the offer anyway."

"If anyone has a problem with our friend, then they also have a problem with us" said Hermione loudly. She glared at the others on the table, knowing that more than a few of them were responsible for the obvious self esteem issues of Luna. She grabbed her hand and literally started pulling a dazed Luna.

"You should just come with us Luna" said Harry smiling. "She won't let it go you know."

Luna blinked again and her face lit up with a bright smile.

"If you insist" said the blond and followed them to the Gryffindor table.

XxXxXxXxX

After their detention with Umbridge, Harry and Hermione left the class room as fast as possible without looking suspicious. Harry pulled out the Marauders Map and found an empty classroom. As soon as Harry put the privacy charms around the room, Hermione put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a bug. She placed it on the floor.

"You can change back now" said Hermione.

The bug started transforming. After a few seconds, a woman was standing in front of them, glaring at Hermione.

"Hello Rita" said Hermione smiling. "I hope that you were able to hear enough, because I expect a nice essay about what you heard today."

XxXxXxXxX

Next morning, a redhead run through the halls of Minister of Magic.

"Minister Fudge. Minister Fudge" screamed Percy Weasley nearly storming in the Minister's room.

"Who do you think you are, entering my room like that" said Cornelius Fudge angrily.

"I am sorry sir but you have to see todays Prophet, it is a catastrophe" said Percy.

"Did they print something supportive of Dumbledore and Potter?" asked Fudge.

"Worse" said Percy and gave him the newspaper in his hand. Fudge looked at the first page and his eyes widened with fear.

"Oh fuck" said Fudge.

XxXxXxXxXxX

As the Hogwarts children ate their breakfast, Harry and Hermione kept looking at Umbridge smiling. The woman just smiled back, not knowing what was awaiting her.

As the Gryffindors eagerly waited for the morning post, the door of the Great Hall opened. An angry woman entered the room. Two wizards with wands in their hands followed the woman while she directly walked to their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Can I help you Amelia?" asked Umbridge.

"Dolores Umbridge" screamed the woman with authority in her voice. "You are under arrest for child abuse and possession of an illegal magical artifact as well as use of it on minors."

"What? What are you talking about Amelia?" asked Umbridge with fear in her eyes.

Instead of answering, Amelia threw the newspaper in her hands at her face. Umbridge looked at the title.

**Undersecretary of Minister of Magic and newly hired Defense Against the Dark Arts of Hogwarts Dolores Jane Umbridge using Blood Quills on Minors**

**By Rita Skeeter**

Umbridge stared at the paper for a few seconds then promptly fainted.

_I hope you liked this chapter and the way they dealt with Umbridge. But I am warning you now. Umbridge is not done yet. Fudge won't let them take his only advantage so easily. You will see what will happen soon._

_Next chapter, Dumbledore will try to get to the bottom of this and there will be some interesting developments for Luna, Ginny and Snape._

_What do you think? Who should be the new DADA teacher? Do you like my version of Luna? Also, feel free to tell me what you think will happen to Umbridge now? I have more than one idea about her and I could go either way._

_Please review. It really helps. _


	12. Chapter 12: An Unexpected Ally

A/N: Sorry for being late, I barely have time to write. I hope to get quicker in a few weeks. I hope you will enjoy this chapter.

(This chapter might have mistakes. I didn't have time to correct them. I will try to correct these mistakes in a few hours).

Disclaimer: Yes I am JK Rowling and I own Harry Potter. But for some reason, I decided to write a fanfiction instead of publishing this story and make millions. Does that sound believable? No? Then I am definitely not JK and I definitely don't own anything besides the plot.

CHAPTER 12: An Unexpected Ally

As the Aurors forced a barely conscious Dolores Umbridge out of the Great Hall, Albus Dumbledore watched the scene with a thoughtful expression on his face.

As everyone was focused on Umbridge, Albus was looking at the Gryffindor table. He praised himself as a good observer and he easily saw the awkwardness at the table. While the rest of the hall watched their soon to be ex Professor, the sixth year Gryffindors were looking at two students at their own table and the students in question calmly continued eating without looking at the scene. The Prophet only gave statements of the students without mentioning their names but it was easy for him to guess who were those students. He frowned and shook his head.

Harry was getting more and more out of his control. He wasn't sure how he did that and it didn't really matter. The real problem was that he didn't run to him as he needed help. He should be the one that Harry run to for help and advice. It bothered him that he didn't know anything about what they did until now. He didn't even know that they had that big of a problem with Umbridge, which was bothering him greatly.

The other matter that bothered him was the fact that Harry actually got revenge on someone. It wouldn't do if Harry started to get revenge on everyone that bothered him, which would lead him to the dark path just like Tom Riddle. For the Greater Good, Harry had to be the self sacrificing hero.

XxXxXxXxX

While Umbridge kept screaming, Harry was desperately trying not to laugh. Looking at the amused look on his girlfriends face, he could tell that she was also struggling to hide her amusement.

"How the hell did you guys manage to do this?" asked Dean.

"Secret" said Harry smiling.

"Anyway, that was just brilliant." said Fred grinning.

"Definitely one of the best pranks of the year" agreed George.

"We have real competition now dear brother." said Fred.

"We have to work hard to protect our reputation" said George grinning. Harry was sure that the gleam in their eyes didn't mean anything good but wisely decided to avoid asking questions.

"What is with the Quidditch practice?" asked Harry. With that question, the team and most of the boys started talking about the upcoming match.

Hermione knew that it was useless to change the topic now, so she turned to Luna and they started talking. They were becoming good friends in a short time. Hermione already asked her about her life at Hogwarts and Luna started telling her all about the creatures she saw. She also told her about the Quibbler, a magazine that was written by her father. Hermione didn't believe most of the things she talked about, but didn't want to ruin the happy gleam in Luna's eyes.

Hermione couldn't believe how innocent she looked when she talked about her past. Even thought she talked casually, Hermione could see the hurt in her eyes when she told her about the death of her mother. Luna was a smart girl. She kept avoiding talking about the treatment of her classmates to her. Hermione could see that this innocent and smart girl was pretty much friendless, mostly because of her weird believes. She knew that there was more to Luna Lovegood than that and swore to find out about her pain and to be a good friend to her.

While Luna talked about her expedition of last summer, Hermione saw a familiar Huflepuff approaching their table.

"Hello Hermione. Harry" greeted Susan Bones. Harry turned to the girl.

"Hi Susan, how was your summer?" asked Harry awkwardly. He wasn't sure if the girl believed her or not. For all he knew, she might very well think that he was a crazy liar.

"Okay, I suppose" said Susan. "How was yours?"

"Surprisingly good" answered Harry with his favorite answer.

"Listen, Professor Dumbledore wanted me to give you this letter" said Susan and gave Harry the letter. They chatted a little longer then she left to her own table.

Harry quickly opened the little note and held it between himself and his girlfriend, so they could both read it.

_Harry,_

_There are a few things that I have to discuss with you. Please be in my office today, after lessons. Miss Granger can join us if she wants. _

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S: I just love Lemon Drop_

"Lemon Drop?" questioned Hermione.

"It is the password for the gargoyle in front of his office" answered Harry. "What do you think? What does he want from us?"

"He probably wants to hear the details about Umbridge" said Hermione.

"Do you think that he knows what we did?" asked Harry.

"Probably. It is no secret that we had problems with Umbridge from the first day. He can easily put two and two together." answered Hermione.

"Are you going to come along?" asked Harry.

"Of course I will. Do you really think I would leave you alone with him?" said Hermione, looking him in the eyes. He couldn't help but smile at the sincerity of her words.

"What does Dumbledore want from you?" asked Ron curiously.

"He wants to see us today" answered Harry shortly.

"Why?" asked Ron.

"I don't know" said Harry.

"It is actually convenient" whispered Hermione to Harry after the other boys went back to their Quidditch talk. "We can also talk to him about Remus."

XxXxXxXxX

Severus Snape was watching the son of his enemy. He hated how the boy acted. He hated how the boy looked like. He could see the smile he hated on that face while he talked to his girlfriend. He hated the fact that he couldn't to anything to the son of James Potter.

Snape was also watching the son of his one and true best friend. It pained him to see hate and anger in those green eyes, whenever the boy looked at him. It pained him to know that he couldn't blame the boy or anyone for that. It pained him to know that he couldn't do anything for the son of Lily Potter. Son of Lily Evans.

One way or another, this had to change. Severus Snape was an intelligent man. He knew what was going on around him. It was time for him to make a decision. He swore that day to fight against the killer of Lily Evans with everything he had. But could he work with the son of his hated enemy? The boy that was the living proof of all his failures.

He took a deep breath as he saw a group of students from his own house approach the boy in question. Severus Snape was not a coward. He knew what he feared and it was time for him to conquer those fears.

XxXxXxXxX

"Look Malfoy, find yourself someone else to play with okay? We don't have time for you," said Hermione dismissingly. Malfoy, who came for his usual taunting went red.

"I didn't ask for your opinion filthy mudblood" hissed the Slytherin. Hermione laughed before anyone else could react to the insult.

"It isn't nearly as insulting after hearing it every week" said Hermione. She was still sitting calmly between Harry and Luna while everyone else just watched the exchange. "Be careful or I might think that these are the only words you know Malfoy."

"How dare you insult me Mudblood" said Malfoy angrily and tried to pull out his wand. But before he could do anything, Harry stood up and grabbed him on the collar. With his free hand, Harry grabbed his wand hand forcefully. Malfoy groaned in pain and his wand fell on the ground.

"Listen here Malfoy" whispered Harry to his ear. His voice was low and dangerous. "I don't care what you think and I don't care what you do. Don't you dare to bother Hermione or any of my friends ever again. I still didn't forget that you tried to kill us last summer. I am warning you, don't get in my way. I don't want to waste my time with you, that's the only reason why I don't send your sorry ass to Azkaban. You are nothing, just like your father. You might want to become a slave as soon as you graduate but I plan better things for my life. Now get out of my sight."

With that, Harry pushed him forcefully away. Malfoy barely avoided falling and looked his nemesis in the eyes. He didn't want to let Potter get away with it but something in his eyes stopped him. Even he could tell that Harry Potter has changed. He looked much more confident and dangerous.

"What is going on here?" asked someone lazily. Harry turned around and found Severus Snape glaring at them.

"He attacked me Professor" said Malfoy quickly.

"Really?" said Luna with wide eyes. "It is not smart of you to bring him all the way to Gryffindor table just to attack him Harry."

Harry couldn't help but smile at her antics.

"You are right Luna. I must be really stupid to pull him that far in the clear view of all the teachers just to attack him." said Harry. Malfoy glared at him.

"Enough" said Snape. "Mr. Malfoy, please go back to your own table."

"But Professor-" started Malfoy.

"I said go" said Snape angrily. Malfoy knew that he was dismissed and left.

"Now Potter, you will have detention with me today after lessons" said Snape. Harry wanted to object, but suddenly stopped when he saw the look on the Potion masters face. It wasn't filled with hate as usual. He couldn't believe his eyes as he realized that there was a hint of concern in those dark eyes.

"I can't come Professor" said Harry. "I have to see Professor Dumbledore."

Harry could have sworn that he saw distaste on the Potion Masters face as he mentioned the old headmaster.

"Then come for your detention right after your meeting with the headmaster" said Snape. With that, he turned around and walked back to his own seat.

"That bloody git" said Ron angrily.

"It is usual Snape" said Fred soothingly to Harry.

"There was nothing usual with **this **Snape" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" asked Neville.

"Didn't you notice" said Luna before Hermione could answer. "He definitely had less nargles than ever."

Before anyone could question what a nargle is and start another endless argument with Luna, Hermione interrupted.

"Didn't you notice that he didn't take any points from Gryffindor" she asked the others.

"Hmm, you are right. Now that you mention, it is really unusual for him" said George.

"He probably forgot about it. Do you want to give him a medal for it? He still gave Harry detention, didn't he?" said Ron. Hermione shrugged as Harry sat down next to her. As soon as Ron turned to Dean to continue their discussion, she turned to Harry.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"I think I agree with you. There was definitely something unusual with Snape. Do you think he is plotting something with Dumbledore?" asked Harry.

"I don't think that Dumbledore knows more than us. I noticed that he gave Snape a questioning look as soon as he sat down but Snape didn't answer him" said Hermione.

"He was looking weird" said Harry. "He wasn't looking as hateful as usual."

"I say we will just have to wait and see" said Hermione. Harry opened his mouth to ask something else but Hermione shook her head and pointed at the others, who stopped talking and started staring at them.

"What the bloody hell are you guys talking about?" questioned Ron. They both looked at their redheaded friend and tried to find an excuse.

"Are you sure that you want to know what two lovers whisper to each other Ronald?" said Luna in a dreamy voice. Ron, Harry and Hermione blushed at her statement, which made her comment even more convincing for the others.

"You are right, I definitely don't want to know" murmured Ron.

XxXxXxXxX

After their lessons, the couple said goodbye to Ron and they walked hand in hand to Dumbledore's office. Before they reached the office, Harry felt something warming up in his pocket.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione.

"My mirror is warming up" explained Harry. Fortunately, they quickly found an empty classroom. Hermione quickly put privacy charms around the room while Harry pulled out the mirror and enlarged it.

"Hi guys" greeted Sirius from the mirror. "Finally. A few minutes longer and I would have run to Hogwarts."

"You know that you can't do this" said Hermione angrily.

"Well, don't make me worry then" said Sirius shrugging.

"We told you that we need a while to find an empty place for answering" reminded Harry sighing.

"Yeah, yeah" said Sirius dismissively, causing Hermione to frown. "Anyway, tell me everything about Umbridge."

They quickly told him the result of their plan. At the end, Sirius was barking with laughter.

"Serves her right" said Sirius laughing.

"I hope she will get what she deserves" said Harry.

"Me too. But I don't think that she will be sent to Azkaban." said Hermione.

"The important think is that you are rid of her now" said Sirius.

"Yes. Listen Sirius, we have to go now. We have a meeting with Dumbledore" said Harry. Sirius suddenly turned serious.

"Don't worry, we will be careful" said Hermione before he could start.

"Fine" said Sirius unhappily. "But keep your mirror close and call me when he does anything suspicious."

"Don't worry, we will call you as soon as we leave his office" said Harry. "I don't think he would do anything to us for now."

"Well, be careful anyway" said Sirius with obvious worry in his eyes.

"We will" they said at the same time.

XxXxXxXxX

"Come in" came a voice from the office after they politely knocked the door.

Harry and Hermione entered the room, staying as close as possible without looking suspicious. Albus Dumbledore was sitting on his usual place with a twinkle in his eyes. Hermione was starting to think that he was using some kind of charm for that twinkle.

"Good afternoon Harry. Miss Granger" said Dumbledore with a smile.

"Good afternoon Professor. Why did you want to see us?" asked Harry. He was closely watching his face, while Hermione was looking at the old headmasters hands. She was feeling a bit paranoid but she prepared herself to defend them if he ever reached for his wand.

"Lemon Drop?" asked Dumbledore. Harry refused politely while trying to not roll his eyes. Hermione on the other hand thanked him and took one from the bowl. She shrugged at Harry's questioning look and put the Lemon Drop in her robes without Dumbledore seeing it.

"Sir, could you please tell us what you want from us?" said Harry impatiently. Dumbledore sighed.

"If you wish. What do you think of the happenings of this morning?" asked Dumbledore.

"Sir, please ask directly, if you have a question. Are you accusing us?" asked Hermione. She really didn't have any patient for the old wizard.

"Would I be wrong if I said that you had problems with Professor Umbridge?" asked Dumbledore.

"So did nearly all the students of Hogwarts. Scratch that, probably everyone who talked with her more than a few seconds" said Harry aggressively. He wasn't about to make things easy for him. He could feel the continuous mild legilimency attacks but didn't show Dumbledore that he was aware of it.

"Fine, I guess I will have to be more specific. Are you the ones that informed the Daily Prophet about her illegal activities?" asked Dumbledore frowning.

"What if we are?" asked Harry.

"Harry, do I have to remind you that I am still your headmaster?" said Dumbledore. The twinkle was absent from his eyes this time. Harry was just about to retort when Hermione interrupted him.

"Sir, we did it because we believed that it was the best for us and Hogwarts" she said looking him in the eyes.

"That decision is not yours to make" said Dumbledore calmly.

"It didn't seem like you were about to make that decision anytime soon" said Harry.

"Point is, she was doing something illegal and she was abusing her power. We did nothing against the law and we didn't break any school rules. I am not sure how you can accuse us of anything Professor" said Hermione as polite as possible. She wasn't sure what the headmaster was trying to do.

"The point is not what you did Miss Granger. The real problem is that you did it to take revenge on someone. I expected better of you" said Dumbledore, looking straight at Harry.

"What do you mean with revenge?" said Harry loudly. "She was torturing me, Hermione and probably many other students."

"You can't just attack anyone that upsets you a little" said Dumbledore.

"Upset? That crazy woman was not suited to be a teacher" screamed Harry.

"You have to learn to forgive Harry. You can't just take the path of revenge. You know what happened to the last one that took that path, right Harry?" said Dumbledore. This time, it was obvious that he hit a nerve. Harry fell silent as his eyes widened in shock.

Hermione saw how upset her boyfriend was and suddenly noticed what Dumbledore was playing. He could see that Harry was already starting to feel guilty. However, she was not going to let him do that to Harry.

"Professor, with all respect, I don't think that you should just forgive everyone." she said calmly.

"You will learn how important it is once you are more mature, Miss Granger" said Dumbledore sadly.

"I think you are misunderstanding me Professor. Umbridge didn't ask for forgiveness. In fact, she wanted to continue being cruel and probably would have done worse with time. You can't forgive someone, if he doesn't even ask for it." said Hermione. She looked at Harry with concern and was relieved to see him smiling back to her.

"Everyone deserves a second chance." argued Dumbledore.

"They only deserve it when they are actually sorry for what they did. Umbridge clearly wasn't sorry and didn't deserve it." said Hermione.

"I am not going to argue with you about this. I hope you will notice your mistake once you had time to calm down about the whole situation" said Dumbledore. "You have to trust me."

"Are you sure that you deserve our trust Professor?" asked Harry. "We will need time to trust you again. You were not really convincing in the past about the whole Horcrux situation."

"I shared everything I know about Horcruxes" lied Dumbledore.

"We will see that. While we are at it, have you found anything new about Voldemort, Horcruxes or Pettigrew?" asked Harry. Dumbledore shifted uncomfortably.

"Unfortunately no. It is not really easy and I am rather busy. I now have to find a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher" said Dumbledore, with a hint of anger in his voice.

"What about Professor Lupin?" suggested Harry. He didn't want Dumbledore to know that they were close Remus, so intentionally called him Lupin.

"While Remus is a competent teacher, there is still the issue with his little problem. I don't think that it will be possible for him to teach at Hogwarts."

"Why not? Even if everyone knows about him being a werewolf, it wouldn't bother most of the parents. If they could do anything about it, they would have gotten rid of Hagrid last year after that article about him being a half giant." said Hermione. "Besides, most of the students went home that year, telling how much of a great Professor he was. While I can see that a lot of pureblood families will complain, I don't think it will be as bad as it is with Hagrid and I am sure you can handle it."

"Hm, I have to admit that I never thought about that. I will consider this and talk with Remus." said Dumbledore.

"Thank you sir" said Hermione smiling.

"Now I am sure that you will want to go to sleep" said Dumbledore.

"Good night sir" said Harry, noticing that they were dismissed. They left the office quickly. As soon as the door closed, they both started laughing in relief.

"That went better than I expected" said Hermione.

"Did I mention how much I love your mind?" asked Harry smiling and gave her a quick kiss.

"Well, you didn't mention it today. You were also great" said Hermione smiling. Then her smile faded a little. "But Harry, you can't let him or anyone guilt trip you. They don't have the right to question your actions. Don't let them make you feel bad."

"You are right, I am sorry Mione" said Harry. "I am so lucky that I have you with me."

"So am I" said Hermione lovingly. "Come on, we have to call Sirius. He probably has a panic attack right now."

XxXxXxXxX

"What happened?" screamed Sirius, exactly one second after they activated Harry's mirror.

"Wow" said Harry grinning.

"That was definitely a new record" said Hermione, who was trying not to giggle at the obvious panic on his face.

"Come on, tell me what happened? Did that bastard do anything to you?" said Sirius screaming.

"Calm down Sirius, would we be laughing if he actually did something bad?" said Harry, shaking his head.

After they calmed his godfather down, they explained their meeting quickly. Sirius ranted a little about Dumbledore but the kids wanted to discuss something more important.

"I just want to know why Dumbledore doesn't do anything about Wormtail" said Harry.

"Don't call him Wormtail Harry," said Sirius. "He lost the right to use that name after he betrayed us."

"You are right, I am sorry." said Harry.

"Anyway, I am pretty sure that Dumbledore isn't doing anything about Pettigrew" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"You think he is purposefully keeping me locked here?" said Sirius angrily.

"It is likely. We discussed this before and he pretty much confirmed that belief after he ignored my question." said Harry.

"Why would he do that?" asked Sirius.

"He might be trying to keep Harry away from you. I am sure he could have done much more if he really wanted to. Even if Pettigrew is hard to reach this year, I don't think it was that hard last year." said Hermione.

"That manipulative bastard. I will rip him to pieces." growled Sirius.

"But there is still a problem. Why did he let us save you in our third year with the time turner?" asked Harry thoughtfully.

"Well, he might have found it too cruel to leave me to die." guessed Sirius.

"I doubt it. He even helped us and told us to save Buckbeak first. He wouldn't have done it unless…" she suddenly went silent as her eyes went wide with realization.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"…unless he already knew that we would do it." finished Hermione quietly.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"Don't you remember Harry? He was there when we saved Buckbeak. He knew that someone saved Buckbeak. He probably already knew that we went back in time."

"WHAT?" screamed Harry and Sirius at the same time.

"It is easy." said Hermione excitedly. "There was not a lot of people who would actually try to save Buckbeak. I probably thought about using the Time Turner first time around. He noticed that we went back in time so suggested it to us in order to take credit for it."

"Wow, it is scary how you could actually guess something like that. You are really scarily brilliant." said Sirius with awe in his voice. Hermione blushed while Harry lovingly put his arm around her.

"That would mean that we won't be able to count on Dumbledore about Pettigrew." said Harry. "We have to take those matters in our own hands."

Surprisingly, Sirius smiled at that.

"Remus might have found something about this. Don't worry, we will find that rat soon," said Sirius grinning.

"We'll still try to find him" said Hermione firmly. Harry nodded.

"But don't endanger yourselves." warned Sirius.

"We won't." assured Harry.

"Seriously, don't do anything dangerous Harry." said Sirius again.

"Yes, yes. We have to go now. I have detention with Snape." said Harry with a half grin.

"You WHAT?" screamed Sirius. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yes Sirius, he will be careful. Yes, we will contact you as soon as we can. No, you don't have to do anything to Snape. Bye." said Hermione and closed the mirror, ignoring his protest.

"That was cruel love." said Harry in a mock disappointed tone.

"I don't want to hear advice about caution from a man that broke out of Azkaban and got into Hogwarts to watch a Quidditch match, that's all." said Hermione.

XxXxXxXxX

After Harry went to Snape's room for his detention, Hermione entered the Gryffindor Common Room and found Ron sitting in a corner, working on his homework. He didn't saw her until she stood right next to him.

"Hi Ron." said Hermione.

"Oh, thank god. Hello Hermione. Could you please help me with my homework?" said Ron with hope in his eyes.

"It is good that you are happy to see me Ronald." said Hermione frowning. "Which one?"

"Transfiguration." answered Ron.

"Since when are you doing your homework so soon?" asked Hermione with amazement. Ron's ears went red and avoided her eyes.

"I thought you wanted us to work harder." said Ron not looking at her.

"Well, I guess it is an improvement. I can help you but don't expect me to do all of it for you." said Hermione warningly. He smiled and nodded.

"Hi Hermione." came a voice from the stairs. She turned around and found Ginny Weasley walking towards them.

"Hi Ginny, how are you?" asked Hermione smiling.

"I am great." answered Ginny. "Where is Harry?"

"Detention with Snape." said Hermione frowning. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, I am just used to seeing you two together" said Ginny. "Is there a problem?"

"No, as I said. He has detention." said Hermione again. Something about Ginny made her suspicious.

"Well, no problem then." said Ginny cheerfully. "I have something else to do. Bye."

With that, she went back to her dorm. Hermione was wondering why she went down in the first place but was distracted when she saw Ron's face. He was getting red for some reason and looking elsewhere.

"Is something wrong?" asked Hermione.

"No, of course not. Listen Hermione, I am really tired, can we finish this later?" said Ron and quickly took his notes. He went to his dorm, leaving a confused Hermione behind.

XxXxXxXxX

"You are late Potter." sneered Snape as soon as he entered.

"I am sorry sir. I had a meeting with Professor Dumbledore." said Harry. Snape suddenly stood up and walked towards Harry.

"So you were with the headmaster before you came here, is that correct?" asked Snape in an emotionless tone.

"Yes sir." said Harry in a confused tone.

Before he knew what was happening, Snape grabbed him on the collar and pushed him to the wall behind him. He was surprisingly strong. With his free hands, he held Harry's hand so he can't reach for his wand.

"What the…?" started Harry, but then he suddenly felt a strong headache. He noticed that Snape was using Legilimency on him and quickly put up his barriers. He felt the attack getting stronger and stronger. He did his best to hold the mental walls stable but it took a lot of effort.

After nearly a whole minute, he was sure that he couldn't fight anymore. He was about to break down when the attack suddenly stopped and Snape let go of him. He fell on his knees panting, while the potion master went back to his seat.

"Take a seat Potter." said Snape.

"What the hell was that?" said Harry panting, as he finally managed to get some breath.

"I said take a seat Potter." said Snape indifferently.

Harry looked at him angrily, while Snape only looked with curiosity, which confused Harry. After a few seconds, he decided to obey and sat heavily on the chair.

"Now, tell me Potter. Do you trust the headmaster?" asked Snape.

Whatever Harry expected from him, this was not it. He was not sure what Snape was planning and really didn't want to answer him.

"Why did you attack me?" said Harry, who was still a little breathless.

"Answer my question Potter." said Snape.

"Why would you ask that?" said Harry hesitantly. After fighting to protect his mind, he just couldn't control his emotions. Snape suddenly smiled.

"I guess that answers my question." he said. "I attacked you to test your shields. There are thing that shouldn't be known by some people."

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"Not yet." said Snape. "For now, you have to know this. Don't trust everyone and be careful."

"Wait. What are you talking about?" said Harry.

"It is good that you are able to protect your mind." said Snape. Before Harry could register that Snape actually complimented him, he continued. "I know that you and Miss Granger have some doubts about Professor Dumbledore. Don't let your guard down."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Harry.

"For the sake of an old friend" said Snape as his eyes lost his focus for a few seconds. "Anyway, I will inform you later. You are free to tell Miss Granger, but don't tell anyone else. You are dismissed."

Harry wasn't sure what just happened. For the first time, Severus Snape wasn't looking at him with hate. There was something else but he just couldn't read him.

"What about my detention?" asked Harry.

"It is over." said Snape with a barely visible smile. Harry opened the door to leave before going crazy but Snape called again. "And Potter!"

"What is it sir?" said Harry turning around. Snape was looking like he was struggling with something.

"I am sorry." said Snape suddenly. Harry was sure that he heard wrong but the look on his face confirmed the crazy statement.

"I- well, you did it to t-test my defense right? It is no problem sir" said Harry, not knowing what to say.

"I didn't mean that." said Snape quietly. Harry's eyes widened in shock and was about to ask a question when Snape waved his wand. The door slammed shut on his face, leaving Harry staring at a closed door open mouthed.

XxXxXxXxX

Harry entered the common room to find his beautiful girlfriend curled up in front of the fireplace while reading a book. Despite all the questions in his mind, he couldn't help but admire her natural beauty. Her brown orbs were entirely focused on the book, while she played with her curls. Her eyes were filled with worry and she was biting her bottom lip. It was so Hermione that Harry just stood there and watched her, feeling really lucky that he had her.

Eventually, he walked towards her, trying to suppress the desire to snog her senseless. She finally noticed him after he stood right next to her and her face immediately brightened which in turn made Harry smile goofily.

"Hi Mione" said Harry.

"Hi Harry" said Hermione happily and hugged him. Harry quickly pulled her in to a kiss and she happily complied. After a few blissful seconds, she pulled away and looked him in the eyes.

"Now, tell me what happened" she murmured as the worry returned to her face. He quickly told her all about his meeting with Snape. At the end, her mouth was hanging open.

"He did WHAT?" she practically screamed.

"He told me that he is sorry" repeated Harry, who was somehow amused from her reaction.

"Stop grinning Harry Potter" said Hermione glaring. "This is really important."

"I know. What do you think about it?" asked Harry.

"I am not sure. It is true that he is acting different this year" said Hermione thoughtfully. "If he really helps us, he would be a valuable ally."

"I don't know. It would be too difficult not to hate him" said Harry, only half joking.

"Well, he is definitely right. We have to be careful about people around us" said Hermione. "We can decide later if we can really trust him."

"If you say so. We just have to wait and see." said Harry. They both sat on the couch and snuggled closer. "Where is Ron by the way?"

"He already went to sleep." said Hermione. She thought for a moment to tell Harry about the way Ginny and Ron acted before but then decided against it. She decided to watch them closely before worrying Harry about it. She knew that Harry could be really paranoid when it came to her safety.

A comfortable silence followed their conversation when she went back to her book while lying on his stomach. Meanwhile, Harry just watched her and played with her hair. They enjoyed each others company for awhile until they both fell to a peaceful sleep.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"What do you mean, you don't want a trial for Dolores" said Amelia Bones practically screaming.

"It is not a good time to worry the public with a trial Amelia." said Cornelius Fudge the Minister of Magic. "That damn article already caused too much uproar, we don't need any more panic."

"That damn article as you put it is the only reason why we learned about Dolores" said Amelia angrily. "We have to put her to a trial, who knows what else she did."

"We are going to take her from Hogwarts and suspend her from her position in the Ministry." said Fudge soothingly.

"We can't do that Cornelius, this is law. We have to arrange a trial" said Amelia desperately. She knew that the situation was hopeless but didn't want to give up without trying.

"No Amelia and this is final" said Fudge. "She won't be able to cause any more damage when she is finally out of office. If you excuse me, I have other business to deal with."

Amelia Bones left the Ministers office grumbling. Only after that, Fudge let out the breath he was holding. If they ever questioned Dolores under Truth Serum, it would have been a disaster for him. Every important man had secrets and Fudge was not about to let his secrets get out so easily.

XxXxXxXxX

Next morning, Ginny Weasley woke up early. She quickly dresses up, knowing that no one would be awake this early, not even his Harry and that know it all. Her anger flared as he once again thought about her. She took a few breaths to calm down then left her dormitory smiling. She had lots of plans for that day. She was hoping to finish her preparation as soon as possible. Her good mood instantly vanished when she saw the scene in the Common Room.

Harry and that girl were sleeping together on the couch. They were snuggled really close. Harry's hands were around her waist, while she was hugging Harry's chest. Harry's face was nearly buried in her hair and they both had a peaceful smile on their faces.

Ginny's hands balled in to fists and she started shaking with anger. She stood there in shock for a few seconds, then furiously stormed out of the Gryffindor tower. In her rage, she didn't notice Neville Longbottom, who was standing on the stairs of the Boys Dormitory and watching the scene in shock.

XxXxXxXxX

I hope you liked it, this was not easy. I would like to hear your opinions about this chapter, especially about Snape. I try to keep the characters as in character as possible without changing my own plot.

Also, this is my story. I have nothing against critics but don't insult the plot itself. If you don't like it, don't read it. It is simple. I don't want to rant or something, but I don't want to see critics from people that didn't even read the story.

By the way, I don't think that my Ginny is actually evil. I would say she is mentally instable at the moment. You will see more about this later, but I do think that this makes her even more dangerous.

Please review, it really helps.


	13. Chapter 13: Traitor

_**A/N: **__Hello everyone. I am sorry that it took me this long to write this chapter. I simply didn't have time to write. I don't know when I can update again but I hope to do it as soon as possible._

_(Not checked for possible mistakes yet because I lack the time for it. I will do it as soon as possible)._

_I don't own anything besides the plot._

**Chapter 13: Traitor**

Harry slowly woke up from the most comfortable sleep he ever had. He tried to keep his eyes closed to sleep longer. He grumbled, knowing that he couldn't fall asleep once he woke up.

As he slowly came to his senses, he felt an unnatural weight on his upper body. He felt himself panicking a little as he noticed that his view was mostly blocked by something. By something brown and curly.

He calmed as he finally remembered where he was. He smiled, as he took a deep breath and smelled Hermione's hair. While her hair was bushy, it was always clean and it was the most wonderful smell for Harry. He couldn't help but wish to stay like that all day without having to stand up.

His hopes were crushed as he felt Hermione moving. She murmured something unrecognizable and tried to block the light with her hand. Harry found it so adorable that he couldn't help but chuckle at her antics. Thankfully, Hermione came to her senses much faster than Harry, which saved him from being hexed out of reflex. She turned her head to him and smiled.

"Good morning love" said Harry smiling back.

"Morning" said Hermione warmly and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Eee- Hello guys" came a voice from the other side of the Common Room.

The sudden voice was not as welcome to them as each others. Harry tried to pull out his wand quickly. Unfortunately, he nearly threw Hermione, who was pretty much on his lap, to the floor by the process. She managed to keep her balance with her right hand, but not before hitting Harry in the face with her foot. Hermione also drew her wand and they both pointed their wand at the unknown person, finally noticing that it was Neville Longbottom.

"I- I am sorry" murmured Neville. He was horrified and looked ready to cry. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and put their wands away at the same time.

"Well, we have to be careful, right?" said Hermione, defending their action.

"Yes, sorry mate." said Harry holding his nose. "You do know that you hit me on the nose right?"

"You will survive" said Hermione dismissingly after checking and confirming that he wasn't actually hurt.

"Are you sure? I don't feel well" said Harry with an obvious fake groan. Hermione kissed him on the cheek, which made Neville blush even more.

"Is there a problem Neville?" asked Harry, noticing Neville's discomfort.

"I wanted to tell you guys something" said Neville in a small voice.

"Go on" said Hermione after they sat down.

"Do you guys have any problem with Ginny?" blurted Neville finally. Harry felt confused and looked at Hermione, only to see the same expression reflected on her face.

"No" answered Harry. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just- I saw her storming out of the Common Room this morning. She looked at you two and suddenly got angry." said Neville quickly.

Harry looked confused at Neville, thinking about the encounter in the summer. Hermione looked thoughtful.

"She was also acting strange yesterday" said Hermione suddenly. Harry's head snapped to her and his eyes widened.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Yes, she said some weird things, mostly about you," said Hermione. "And Ron started to act very strange after she went away."

"And you are telling me this only now?" asked Harry angrily. Hermione sighed, while Neville only looked at the two of them, feeling like an intruder.

"Harry, it happened yesterday." reminded Hermione but Harry was having none of it.

"You could have told me after I came back" said Harry. "You wanted to go back to your dorm yesterday. What if she did something to you in your sleep."

"Harry, we are talking about Ginny, not Malfoy" said Hermione equally angry. "Why would you think that she would try to hurt me? She is my friend."

Harry could see that Hermione was lying, not only to him but also to herself. He knew that she didn't want to lose Ginny as a friend and could see the hints of hopelessness in her eyes.

"You have to be careful Hermione. I am not saying that she would hurt you but you can never know. You are the one that told me not to trust everyone. You have to be careful Hermione, I can't live if anything happens to you."

"Smooth Mr. Potter but it won't work" said Hermione, but a small smile found her lips.

"I mean it. You want me to be careful, then you have to follow the same advice. We promised to tell each other everything Hermione and you also have to keep that promise."

"Okay fine" said Hermione unhappily. "Then you have to promise me not to rush to anything."

"I don't know what you mean" said Harry.

"You know exactly what I mean. Promise me not to rush to anything without talking with me." said Hermione sternly.

"Oh right fine. Can we go back to the topic at hand now" said Harry.

"What is exactly wrong guys? Is there anything I could help?" asked Neville shyly.

"It is a long story Neville" said Harry, and quickly explained their fight in the summer. Harry noted that Neville looked somehow crestfallen about Ginny's obsession with him but dismissed it for now.

"Anyway Harry, we should go start our training now, we are already late" said Hermione.

"What training?" asked Neville.

"Oh, we are training to have an edge over possible enemies. Work out, spell training, agility. Things like that. Would you like to join us Nev?" asked Harry. Neville's eyes lit up for a second but then shook his head.

"Sorry Harry, but not today" said Neville sadly. "I have a few other things to do."

"Too bad" said Hermione. "Maybe you could join us some other day."

"I would really like that" said Neville happily.

"Anyways, we should be going now" said Harry.

"Wait. Ehh, Hermione." said Neville shyly.

"Yes Neville?"

"Didn't you say that Ron was also acting strange yesterday?" asked Neville to Hermione. Harry and Hermione frowned.

"I think a confrontation with our dear friend is in order" said Harry darkly.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The strongest and darkest wizard of the century was currently sitting in his hideout. It wasn't really one of the best or most comfortable of places but unfortunately, Lord Voldemort was forced to lay low for a while. One more reason to kill Harry Potter as painful as possible.

"Bring me Wormtail" said Voldemort to his servant in front of him. The newbie Death Eater bowed quickly and run out of the room with a terrified expression on his face. Voldemort felt his anger rising. He hated cowards. He briefly considered torturing the Death Eater for it but then decided against it. Not worth his time.

Wormtail entered only one minute later and bowed in front of him, while shaking like a leaf. Voldemort had to suppress another wave of disgust.

"Stand Wormtail" said the Dark Lord.

"How can I be of use my Lord?" asked Pettigrew, not looking him in the eyes.

"I require your services Wormtail. I am sure you know that I need something from the Ministry" said Voldemort, not bothering to tell the pathetic creature any details.

"My Lord" said Pettigrew with fear in his voice. "I couldn't-"

"I know that you can't." said Voldemort in a dangerous low voice. Wormtail promptly went quiet. "I am positive that there is some kind of defense mechanism that protects it."

"Then what can I do my Lord?" asked Pettigrew after a short silence.

"I require someone from the other side. Not just anyone, but someone from Dumbledore's pathetic order" said Voldemort. Pettigrew gulped.

"My Lord. How can I-"

"_Crucio_" hissed Voldemort, finally losing his patience. "I told you to stay quiet Wormtail. Lord Voldemort knows everything. I know that an excuse of a wizard like you won't be able to do this. I already have a plan that will work perfectly, unless you manage to ruin it. And I warn you, if you disappoint me this time, there won't be any forgiving."

XxXxXxXxXxX

The breakfast was rather tense for Hermione and Harry. Not that anyone else noticed anything but Hermione suspected that Luna actually noticed something and Neville was sitting even quieter than normal.

At the moment, Ron was talking about the Quidditch and his possible new position as Gryffindor keeper. Hermione wasn't really listening to him while Harry was trying to sound interested.

"Is something wrong with Ronald?" whispered Luna to Hermione. She was once again sitting on Hermione's other side. The other students knew better than questioning Harry Potter and Hermione Granger and didn't bother them about it.

"What do you mean Luna?" asked Hermione.

"He is avoiding you for some reason. Did you have a fight or something?" asked Luna. Hermione shook her head and looked at her red headed friend. She now noticed that Ron was actively avoiding looking at her direction.

"Something is definitely not right" murmured Hermione to herself and suddenly addressed the others. "Did any of you see Ginny?"

Ron was never really good at lying. She obviously saw him shaking a little and he acted like he didn't even hear her.

"Ron" said Harry suddenly to his friend. Ron turned to him nervously. "We need to talk."

"What about?" asked Ron, trying to act calm.

"Not yet" said Harry. "We will talk after lessons in private okay?"

Ron gulped and nodded.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Dumbledore wasn't a happy man. He was starting to think that the unhappiness was slowly becoming a part of him this year. He didn't like this thought.

He was trying to find a suitable teacher for the Defense Against the Dark Arts. He needed a teacher as soon as possible. It wouldn't do to keep that position empty, not after declaring that Voldemort was back. Not to mention, if he didn't find anyone as soon as possible, the Ministry would send someone else.

His problem was that he didn't have any suitable candidate for the position. He didn't want to hire Remus Lupin. The werewolf disappointed him by getting too close to Harry and Dumbledore didn't need anyone else that would give the boy advice. That was his job.

Still, he didn't have too much time. He knew that Harry and Miss Granger would ask him about the position sooner or later. Oh, how he wished he could just obliviate them. Unfortunately, it was pretty much impossible now. He angrily sucked one of his Lemon Drops.

"Damn those brats" said Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of the century.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Nymphadora –Don't call me that- Tonks was currently sitting in a Muggle Café. The metamorphmagus wasn't happy with her current disguise. She had black long hair, a pointy nose and a curved body. She was looking like a typical Black much to her dismay but it was necessary. For missions, it was good to look as unlike herself as possible.

She didn't really know what her mission actually was. Sturgis Podmore, another member of the Order of the Phoenix told her to meet someone here. She didn't think that it would be a problem but she still had her hand on her wand, just in case.

A man who was hiding his face with his cloak sat right in front of her. She couldn't see his face but it didn't really bother her much. The times were dark and people liked to keep their sides of the war hidden, in order to protect themselves and their families.

"Green suits you" said the man in a deep, obviously fake voice, pointing at her blue hat. She smiled. It was the codeword for the meeting.

"Pink is still better" she answered back and shook his hand. "What was it you wanted to give us?"

"Not here" answered the man. "Follow me."

The man stood up and promptly left the local, leaving Tonks no other option but to follow him. She quickly paid for her tea -She would never understand Muggle money- and followed the man.

She could see the man walking to a more deserted area. Tonks was starting to get suspicious of the man. The man entered an empty alley, making her even more cautious.

"Where are we going?" called Tonks after him but the man didn't answer. Something was horribly wrong. Tonks reached for her wand.

She saw red light illuminating from the man for a second before everything went dark.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"What the hell is wrong with you?" said Hermione as soon as they found a place to talk in private.

"Nothing is wrong with me" said Ron angrily.

"I disagree" said Luna calmly. She was with them after they finished their lessons and Hermione insisted that she should join them since she already noticed something. "You are clearly infected by Nargles."

"What?" said Ron.

"Tell me what is going on with Ginny." said Harry, barely containing his anger. He hated to think that his best friend would have something to do with a plot to hurt Hermione.

"What? What do you mean? I don't know anything." said Ron, clearly too quick to be true.

"Ron say it now or we will be stuck here for a long time." said Hermione warningly.

"There is nothing to say." insisted Ron.

"We are best friends Ron." said Harry loudly. "I suspect that Ginny is plotting something. If you actually know anything and don't tell us, then you don't deserve to be our friend. You don't deserve to be my mate."

Ron gulped as he looked in Harry's eyes. He could see the fire in those eyes and knew that he meant what he said. He took a deep breath.

"Okay, I will tell you what I know but promise me that you will hear me out at first" said Ron almost pleadingly. They all nodded and Ron quickly told his tale about Ginny's plan since the summer. After he finished his tale, a long silence followed.

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Harry with hurt evident in his voice. Hermione remained silent while Luna only watched them with interest.

"She is my sister Harry" said Ron pleadingly.

"And we are your friends" said Harry angrily.

"I couldn't just betray her Harry. She is not a bad person" said Ron.

"What if she hurt Hermione" screamed Harry.

"She wouldn't. I was going to stop her Harry, I swear. I wouldn't let her hurt Hermione. Any of you" said Ron.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST TOLD US" screamed Harry, losing all his patience. "YOU BETRAYED US."

"BLOODY HELL HARRY. SHE IS MY SISTER" screamed Ron back. "I-"

"Enough, both of you" said Hermione sternly, cutting them off. They both looked at her with shock as they forgot about Hermione and Luna in their anger. "Stop this nonsense at once. Harry, I know that you are concerned for me and I really appreciate it but you can't fight over this."

"But-" started Harry as he tried to calm down.

"We will talk about this later" said Hermione. Harry saw that tears were starting to form in her eyes but she furiously wiped them with the back of her hand. "If you didn't notice, there is someone that was actually betrayed by her friend here."

Harry suddenly felt really stupid as he understood what she was talking about. Luna, who was watching the scene silently until now, walked to Hermione and wrapped her arms around her. After tensing for a moment, Hermione hugged her back as she took a calming breath.

"Thanks Luna" said Hermione.

"Anytime" said Luna smiling as she let go of her.

"Ron, I don't know about Harry but I am not angry with you" said Hermione as she turned to him. "A little disappointed, but not angry."

"Look Hermione, I-" started Ron.

"Later" said Hermione. "We have to deal with Ginny before it is too late. I refuse to believe that Ginny would actually try to hurt me. Not until I saw it with my own eyes."

With that she stormed out of the room.

"I think you two should follow her" said Luna and followed her out of the room.

"I am sorry mate" said Ron to Harry after she left.

"Later" said Harry just like Hermione and they both followed the girls.

XxXxXxXxX

Peter cursed his luck. The passage way he entered wasn't as empty as he thought it would be. Fortunately, he was able to stun the few witnesses before they could say anything but had to leave with the unconscious auror. He couldn't afford being seen by anyone else or his Lord would actually kill him this time.

He was levitating the unconscious female Auror under an invisibility cloak while trying to find a suitable place to use a portkey. There were just too many ways to prevent apparition and he couldn't afford to risk triggering any wards.

It wasn't an easy job but he finally managed a small, empty passage. He quickly entered and put the auror down.

He took the cloak and was just about to put it over the auror and himself when he felt something hitting him in the back. He flew towards the wall and crashed rather hard against it. He turned around and pulled his wand quickly but he was still not quick enough. A disarming charm hit the confused Death Eater and his wand flew of his hand.

"Who- Who the hell are you?" asked Pettigrew, still trying to use his fake voice and failing miserably. He knew he should have used Polyjuice Potion. But it wasn't that bad. If he went willingly with the man, he could just transform when he wasn't looking and escape. Yes, he wasn't done yet.

The man walked towards him with his wand pointed right on his face. The man was mostly hiding his face but he was still familiar to Pettigrew.

"Hello Peter" said Remus Lupin with a dark smile on his face.

Pettigrew gulped. Now he was actually doomed.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Ginny Weasley was once again walking in an empty corridor completely alone. She had to get rid of a few idiots that tried to flirt with her but she finally had her peace. She was in a good mood because she finally finished her plans. She had the bottle in her hand and a huge grin formed on her face. She was about to get what was supposed to be hers.

Like out of nowhere, Ron appeared in front of him.

"Hi Ron" said Ginny smiling sweetly.

"What are in those bottles?" asked Ron, not bothering to greet her.

"Why do you ask if you already know it?" countered Ginny.

"Stop this Gin. You can't do this." said Ron.

"Who says that?" said Ginny as the smile disappeared from her face. She looked a little out of control and dangerous. "I can do whatever I want Ron, don't get involved in this."

"I am sorry Gin" said Ron in an apologetic tone. He suddenly grabbed her shoulders and pushed her gently but forcefully into the classroom right behind her.

She freed herself once they were in the room and drew her wand.

"What the hell was that?" said Ginny furiously.

"Hello Ginny" came a voice from behind. Ginny turned around with shock and saw Hermione, Harry and Luna staring at her. All, even Luna had disappointment on their faces. She whirled around and faced Ron, who was blocking the door.

"You! You betrayed me." said Ginny with fury.

"Ginny, stop this, please." said Hermione. Something inside of Ginny snapped as she heard her voice.

"SHUT UP" screamed Ginny. "DON'T TALK TO ME, DON'T ACT LIKE MY FRIEND."

"We are friends." said Hermione as tears started to form in her eyes. Harry wrapped his arm around her supportively. Given the situation, it was probably a mistake as Ginny got even angrier.

"You betrayed me." screamed Ginny. "You all betrayed me and I won't just stand here and allow that bitch to take what is mine."

She run towards Harry with the bottle in her hand, ready to force feed it to him. But before she could come even near, a disarming charm hit her and the bottle flew off his hand and smashed against the wall. Luna put her wand behind her ear again.

"That spell is more dangerous than I thought" she said calmly. "It could have smashed against someone, not really reliable."

Ginny's eyes filled with hate and she drew her wand and pointed at Hermione. Harry, Ron and Luna also pulled their wands and pointed at Ginny while Hermione just stood there with a sad expression on her face.

"I don't know what is in those bottles Ginny and I don't really want to know" said Hermione. She walked towards her friend, still not bothering to pull out her wand. "You have to control yourself."

"SHUT UP" screamed Ginny again. "Don't try to act like my friend. You always had your eyes on him. Every time I talked to you, every time I told you something about him, you were just plotting to hit me in the back."

"I didn't" said Hermione. "I was always your friend."

"I don't want to hear your lies. If I won't get her, I will at least get my revenge on the cause of it." said Ginny.

"Ginny stop" said Harry but it was too late. Ginny didn't even hear him and pointed her wand at Hermione. She couldn't even think anymore, she only felt her anger, her hurt as she looked at the brown haired witch in front of her. Her former friend.

"_Avada_ _Kedavra_" said Ginny and everything stopped. Both Ron and Luna stood there in shock while Harry's eyes widened as he tried to push Hermione away but he was too far away. Hermione just stood there, not even registering Ginny's words.

Nothing happened.

The time started flowing again as Harry jumped right in front of his girlfriend. After the killing curse failed, Ginny finally registered what happened. Her wand fell from her shaking hand. Her eyes widened and started to tear up for a few seconds. The force was simply too much and her legs stopped sporting her as she finally fell unconscious.

XxXxXxXxXxX

_That was it I hope you liked it. There are a few things I need to say about this chapter._

_First about Sturgis Podmore. He is the Order member that was imperiused to steal the Prophecy in fifth book. He was sent to Azkaban for 6 months. I think you will understand the his connection with this chapter._

_Some may think that I am overdoing things with Ginny. I am not sure. As I said, my Ginny is already mentally unstable (which will be addressed later by the way). The groundwork for this was already made in canon books, I just improved it a little (just like the whole manipulative Dumbledore issue). And the killing curse didn't work because she lacks something to use it._

_Next chapter, we will see how the others will react to Ginny's actions and the real cause of Ginny's problems will probably make an appearance._

_By the way, I am definitely not a Ron or Snape fanboy. I dislike Ron and I am completely neutral about Snape. They are redeemed (for now) because I want to write an original story and redeeming the characters I don't really like is much more challenging then bashing them. (Though if I write another story, you can definitely expect a little Ron bashing)._

_The whole issue with Tonks, Pettigrew and Lupin will be explained next chapter but I would like to hear your opinions._

_Sorry that the note was this long but it was necessary. Please review, it really helps._


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